Chip designer ARM Holdings PLC, which has close ties to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), plans to increase its investments in Taiwan, owner Masayoshi Son said on Saturday.
The Japanese billionaire and founder of Softbank Group Corp said that he wants to relist ARM within five years, reintroducing stock markets to the British chipmaker that his company bought for US$32 billion in 2016.
Softbank has not yet decided where the public offering would be held, Son told a technology forum in Taipei.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
In his first public speech in Taiwan, Son said that artificial intelligence (AI) and the information revolution represent the biggest shift in human history, with AI set to dominate technology development trends and improve human lives, rather than take away jobs.
After the forum, which had the theme “Transformation of global technology industries and capital flows,” Son told reporters that ARM would expand its investments in Taiwan in areas such as the Internet of Things and autonomous vehicles, and would hire more engineers, as well as research and development specialists.
The performance of the nation’s semiconductor and technology industries has been outstanding, he said.
Founded in 1990, ARM quietly grew into the UK’s largest listed tech company before Softbank’s takeover. It designs chips that are licensed to the world’s largest technology companies, and, as a result, just about every smartphone, mobile phone and tablet runs on an ARM chip.
On ARM’s relationship with China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為), which is facing US restrictions, Son said that ARM respects both the US and the firm’s links with China.
The British chipmaker is complying with US restrictions on Huawei and is seeking clarification on them, Son said.
In response to a question by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) on maximizing returns on government-run funds, Son said that there are low-risk methods such as system reform, expert recruitment and maintaining a goal of high returns.
Son said that he would be willing to offer his investment experience and ideas to help the government improve the performance of its national pension fund.
Gou is seeking to obtain the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) nomination to become its presidential candidate in next year’s election.
One of the main planks of Gou’s platform has been restoring benefits to retired military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers, which were cut last year to help keep the financially strapped pension system afloat.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure