New Delhi: Ahead of Arm’s initial public offering, Amazon.com (AMZN.O) is in talks about joining other technology companies as a cornerstone investor in SoftBank Group Corp’s (9984.T) Arm Ltd.
Amazon’s potential involvement in the IPO, which has not previously been reported, underscores Arm’s significance in cloud computing. Amazon Web Services, the internet giant’s cloud business, uses Arm’s design to make its own processing chip called Graviton.
According to one of the people, arm plans to list on the Nasdaq in early September. Reuters has reported that the company seeks to raise $8 billion to $10 billion.
Arm and Amazon declined to comment.
Reuters has reported Arm has been in talks with about 10 technology companies, including Nvidia (NVDA.O), Intel (INTC.O) and Alphabet (GOOGL.O), about an investment ahead of its IPO. According to the sources, these investors would not gain any board seats or control.
One of the sources said Arm wishes that bringing cornerstone investors on board will strengthen its ties with leading customers and boost the IPO’s appeal.
After many of its bets on technology startups soured, this IPO is expected to be a much-needed boon for SoftBank, which is battling to turn around its massive Vision Fund.
Since its deal to sell the chip designer to Nvidia for $40 billion collapsed last year because of objections from U.S. and European antitrust regulators, SoftBank has been targeting a listing for Arm.
Since then, Arm’s business has fared better than the broader chip industry thanks to its focus on data center servers and personal computers that generate higher royalty payments.
