Arm surged 25%on its first day of listing,becoming the largest U.S.IPO of the year

　　In the early morning of September 15,ARM,a chip design company owned by SoftBank,was listed on the Nasdaq exchange for the first time.It closed up nearly 25%,with a market value of US$67.9 billion,becoming the largest IPO in the US stock market this year.Arm's American depositary shares opened at$56.1 per share,10%higher than the$51 IPO pricing,and then rose steadily to more than$60,finally closing at$63.59,a first-day increase of 24.69%.

　　The market capitalization of US$67.9 billion is significantly higher than the US$40 billion offered by Nvidia when it planned to purchase Arm in 2020,and is also much higher than Japan’s SoftBank Group’s latest valuation of Arm.In August this year,before Arm applied for listing,SoftBank bought back 25%of Arm’s equity from the SoftBank Vision Fund for US$16.1 billion.Based on this calculation,SoftBank valued Arm at approximately US$64.4 billion at the time.

　　SoftBank Group will sell up to about 10%of its shares in ARM’s current listing,including commitments from Apple,Nvidia,Google,Intel,Samsung,TSMC and other companies.ARM conducted a roadshow for institutional investors in early September,and finally announced on September 13 that it had decided to set the offering price at US$51,the upper limit of the offering price range of US$47-51,indicating a positive response from investors.

　　After the listing,SoftBank,as the controlling shareholder,will still hold 90.6%of Arm's shares.In addition,Arm's prospectus also shows that if the underwriters exercise the over-allotment option,they can over-purchase 7 million ADS shares,reducing SoftBank's shareholding to 89.9%.

　　This is also Arm’s second time on the market.In 1998,Arm was listed on the London Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq in the United States at the same time until it was acquired and privatized by Japan's SoftBank Group for approximately US$31 billion in September 2016.

　　Founded in 1990,Arm is unique and important in the chip industry.It was originally a joint venture between Apple,VLSI Technology and British computer company Acorn Computer.In terms of business model,ARM does not manufacture chips itself.It continuously develops semiconductor intellectual property(hereinafter referred to as IP),which is the"blueprint"for chip circuit design,and then licenses the IP to partners such as Apple,Qualcomm and MediaTek.partners to manufacture chips.