SoftBank's Son faces difficult quest to lift Arm valuation

Chip design unit's dominance complicates bid for partnership with Samsung

Thanks to energy-efficient design and other advantages, Arm's blueprints are used in more than 90% of smartphone processors. (Photo courtesy of Arm)

SUGURU KURIMOTO, RYOSUKE EGUCHI and KOTARO HOSOKAWA, Nikkei staff writers

September 23, 2022 06:52 JST

TOKYO/SEOUL -- SoftBank Group is racing to boost the valuation of British chip design unit Arm before taking it public, with SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son himself reaching out to Samsung Electronics to explore a potential tie-up.

Technology stocks have suffered globally in recent months, dealing a blow to SoftBank's plans to list Arm in 2022. Son had previously said he was thinking about what to do with Arm "almost every day" and was "pretty fired up."