Chipmaker Nvidia has sold off the last shares it owned of Arm Holding Plc. Nvidia unloaded 1.1 million shares, worth about $140 million based on Arm’s closing price Tuesday, as per a regulatory filing, the disposal, which occurred sometime in the fourth quarter of last year, brings Nvidia’s stake to zero.
This move wraps up a long and complex relationship between the two companies. Nvidia originally agreed to acquire Arm in 2020 for about $40 billion, but that deal faced strong regulatory resistance and was terminated in 2022. Since then, Nvidia retained a minority stake in Arm, gradually reducing it until the final shares were sold last year.
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In February 2022, the two sides announced the termination of the agreement, Arm, majority-owned by SoftBank Group Corp., subsequently went ahead with its plan to sell shares to the public.
What is Arm Holding Plc.?
Arm Holdings Plc. is a British semiconductor and software design company headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Founded in 1990 as a joint venture between Acorn Computers, Apple, and VLSI Technology, Arm specializes in designing energy-efficient microprocessor architectures, particularly the RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) architecture that powers a wide variety of electronic devices. Arm does not manufacture its own chips; instead, it licenses its processor designs to other companies, who then integrate the designs into their own products.
Arm’s technology is most widely known for its role in mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, where its designs dominate the market. Its architecture is also used in embedded systems, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, networking equipment. Companies like Apple, Qualcomm, Samsung, and Nvidia have all relied on Arm’s designs for their processors.
The company went public in 1998, was later acquired by SoftBank Group in 2016, and remained under SoftBank ownership until recent transactions involving Nvidia. Arm is considered a pivotal player in the global semiconductor ecosystem, particularly because its licensing model allows for wide adoption while keeping power consumption low — a key factor in mobile and edge computing.
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Beyond processors, Arm has expanded into software tools, security architectures, and AI accelerator designs.
The sale of Nvidia’s remaining stake in Arm reflects broader trends in the semiconductor and technology industries. Companies are supposedly increasingly focusing on strategic alignment, portfolio optimization, and investment in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and next-generation computing architectures. Arm, with its widely adopted processor designs and flexible licensing model, continues to play a central role in enabling innovation across multiple sectors, from consumer electronics to enterprise computing and IoT.