[SK777]

The article said SoftBank was going to invest $64 billion in this? After ARM develops the AI chips they are going to spin that department out into a separate company, with SoftBank making the investment in it.

Right now ARM is worth >50% more than SoftBank itself. It seems odd that they are still holding 90%, and also committing so much cash for future investments.

[hollerith]

The article says, "Mass production . . . is slated to commence in the fall of 2025. Once a mass-production system is established, the AI chip business could be spun off and placed under SoftBank."

Again, if ARM needs money, ARM needs to sell something ARM owns or to take out a loan. SoftBank's selling something SoftBank owns does not by itself increase ARM's cash even a little. (A company can create new shares in itself at any time, so one of the things ARM can sell is newly-created shares in ARM. As soon as ARM creates new ARM shares, SoftBank's ownership share in ARM goes down from 90% to less than 90% unless SoftBank buys some of those new shares.)

[prestonlau]

I think it could take some time before Softbank find the next big well-funded buyer for Arm. Referencing another Softbank deal with Boston Dynamics, which was acquired by Softbank in June 2017. Softbank finally sold 80% of its share to Hyundai group in June 2021 (~4 years), also the deal includes some interesting put option that requires Boston Dynamics to go IPO by June 2025, giving Softbank a chance to sell off its remaining 20% stake. Otherwise, Hyundai is required to buy the last 20% from Softbank by June 2026. Who could be the potential buyer of Arm? More details about the Boston Dynamics deal here: https://asianews.network/hyundai-motors-bet-on-robot-dog-bef...