Apple, Samsung, Nvidia and Intel, among others, each hope to buy a part of the company when Arm goes public later this year.

The IPO of British chip designer Arm Holdings Inc. has been in the works since last spring. There was a shift last year due to the economic crisis, but that won’t stop big tech names from investing in the company. Nikkei Asia reports interest from Apple and Samsung, after Nvidia and Intel also completed the list of candidates.

Coveted wildlife

There are good reasons for each of these companies to grab a piece of their arm. Arm is a very important player in the global chip industry. Apple and Samsung are good customers: the iPhone manufacturer uses the chip architecture to develop its own M chips for Macbooks and Macs, Samsung for the Exynos chips.

Nvidia has already attempted to fully adopt Arm. That takeover failed and that’s why Arm is now going public. Then there’s Intel: The chip superpower wants to make chips for other companies and would position itself close to the source with an investment in the chip designer.

Arm is now 100 percent owned by the Japanese Softbank, which distributes the shares to the parent company and an investment fund. It’s no public secret that the parent company wants to reduce its stake in its subsidiary, even though it would still own eighty to ninety percent of the shares after the IPO.

cash cow

After Arm suddenly turns out to be a cash cow, the mother shows a little more love for the adopted daughter. The investment division, which owns 25 percent, is selling 15 percent of its shares. According to Nikkei Asia, these should be neatly divided between the four parties mentioned.

The IPO, which will officially take place in September, is already one of the most anticipated of the year in the tech industry. So in the UK, people are not at all happy to see Arm turning his back on his British homeland and staring at a famous street in New York.

Analysts expect Arm’s market value to surpass $60 billion by September, which would be double the amount the Japanese group spent on the company in 2016. Arm anticipated this by adjusting its license terms earlier this year to maximize its revenue streams.