Arm, a chip designer owned by Softbank, is reportedly planning to transfer shares of its China unit to accelerate its IPO.

• According to The Financial Times, sources reveal that Arm currently holds a 47.3% equity stake in Arm China.
• According to Bloomberg, citing sources, after the share transfer, Arm will have less than 20% ownership of Arm China.
• If SoftBank cannot sell Arm to Nvidia for $40 billion, it may consider floating the British chip designer in New York after a share transfer in the next year.

According to reports from The Financial Times and Bloomberg on Tuesday, the arm of the parent company is set to transfer shares in its renegade China joint venture to a special purpose vehicle owned by the parent company.

According to The Financial Times, Arm currently holds a 47.3% equity stake in Arm China. However, following a share transfer, Arm will end up holding less than 20% of Arm China, as reported by Bloomberg. The report also stated that Arm will treat Arm China like any other license-paying customer instead of a fully controlled subsidiary.

If SoftBank fails to sell the British chip designer for $40 billion, it may consider floating the company in New York next year through a share transfer.

Arm China, a joint venture between Arm and Hopu Investments, is headquartered in Shanghai. After SoftBank bought Arm for $32 billion in 2016, Wu became the onetime CEO of Arm China. However, he was fired by the board of Arm China in 2020 due to conflicts of interest. Despite this, Wu has reportedly refused to leave and continues to run the company on a daily basis.

Arm and SoftBank declined to comment.

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