Deep binding? Apple signed a nearly 20-year chip partnership with Arm

News on September 6, the latest IPO documents submitted by British chip design company ARM on Tuesday local time show that Apple has signed a new cooperation agreement with ARM on chip technology licensing "extending beyond 2040".

On Tuesday, ARM announced in its latest filings the pricing of an initial public offering (IPO), priced between $47-$51 per ADS and up to $52 billion. Arm will begin its roadshow to investors in New York on September 5, which is expected to be the world's largest IPO of the year.

Arm's latest prospectus shows that only 9.4 percent of Arm's shares will be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, with plans to raise $4.87 billion through an IPO, which is far smaller than the company's previous goal.

The intellectual property behind most of the world's smartphone chip architectures is owned by ARM, which licenses these technologies to Apple and many other companies. Apple uses ARM technology in designing custom chips for iPhones, iPads and Macs.

Apple and ARM have a long history of collaboration. Apple was one of the first companies to co-create ARM in 1990, followed by the release of a Newton handheld computer using an ARM-based processor chip in 1993. Although Newton's handheld computer was not a great success, ARM dominated the field of mobile phone chips due to the low-power chip architecture that extended battery life.

ARM's IPO filing, which went public on August 21, did not mention the deal disclosed in Tuesday's latest filing, meaning the deal was signed between August 21 and September 5.

According to media reports, Arm's cornerstone investor lineup is strong, including Apple, Google, Nvidia, Intel and TSMC. The cornerstone investors plan to buy up to $735 million worth of Arm shares at the IPO price, Arm said.

ARM declined to comment beyond its submission, and Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Chenchen)