Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer TSMC announced on Tuesday it has approved an investment of up to US$100 million in chip designer Arm. The move will see the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer take a stake in one of the globe’s most important chip designers. Arm’s initial public offering (IPO) is scheduled for September 14, and the company claims that its designs account for 99% market share in smartphone processors.
Director and researcher at Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真) says TSMC is not the only company interested in the IPO. She says other hardware giants such as Apple, Samsung, AMD, Nvidia, and Google parent company Alphabet have all expressed interest in investing in Arm. She says this gesture demonstrates the critical role Arm plays in the technology industry.
Liu says that the intellectual property (IP) created by Arm, such as chip designs, is critical for technologies such as AI and edge computing. Liu says that if TSMC wants to lead in these industries, it may need to shift more resources to IP services. She says that TSMC has worked closely with Arm in the past, and the new investment is likely to increase their cooperation.