SoftBank Group Corp’s Arm Ltd is expected to report a revenue decline of about 1% in the year ended March, when the chip designer reveals its initial public offering (IPO) filing on Monday, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Arm’s sales fell to $2.68 billion in the 12 months ended March 31, hurt by a slump in global smartphone shipments, the source said, requesting anonymity. Sales for the quarter ended June 30 fell 2.5% to $675 million.
Arm, which is preparing to list its shares on the Nasdaq as soon as next month, declined to comment. Global chipmakers have recently signaled the beginning of the end of a semiconductor supply glut, but the outlook for demand from customers outside the artificial intelligence (AI) industry remains gloomy.
All the major markets for chips – smartphones, PCs and data centers – have shrunk this year, as both corporate customers and consumers scale back spending amid a weak global economy, high inflation and rising interest rates. Reuters reported that SoftBank had acquired the 25% stake in Arm it did not directly own from its Vision Fund unit in a deal that valued the chip designer at $64 billion.
