Arm Holdings is valued at $54.5 billion in biggest initial public offering since late 2021

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U.K. chip designer Arm Holdings is scheduled to start trading on the Nasdaq Thursday, in what is the largest initial public offering of shares in nearly two years

NEW YORK — U.K. chip designer Arm Holdings is scheduled to start trading on the Nasdaq Thursday, in what is the largest initial public offering of shares in nearly two years.

The shares have been priced at $51, giving Arm a market value of $54.5 billion. The opening trade could be much higher, given the interest among investors in the offering.

Most consumers use at least one product that contains Arm's chips, though many people may not be familiar with the company itself. Its chip design is used in virtually all smartphones, the majority of tablets and digital TVs. More recently, Arm has expanded into artificial intelligence, smart devices, cloud computing, the metaverse and autonomous driving.

Arm's offering is an important development for the IPO market, which has seen relatively few companies go public the past two years. It's also a key moment for the Japanese technology investor Softbank, which acquired Arm in 2016, as well as investments banks such as Goldman Sachs that recently have taken in far less revenue from underwriting and advisory fees.

Softbank will retain a nearly 90% stake in the Arm. It’s the biggest IPO since the electric truck maker Rivian debuted in November 2021 with a market value of more than $66 billion.

Arm’s business centers on designing chips and licensing the intellectual property to customers, rather than chip manufacturing, for which it relies on partners. The company recorded $2.68 billion of revenue in its last fiscal year, which ended in March, and had $524 million in profit for that period.

Nearly 400 companies went public