ARM Intends to Stay Private

With all the news about companies reshaping their businesses and sealing acquisition deals, ARM decided to come out and clearly state its decision to remain a private IT player.

The recent revelation that HP is going to spin off or sell its whole PC business seems to have started something akin to a chain reaction.

It was even reported that there were real chances of Samsung buying that particular division, though things are still up in the air.

Another buyout some were speculating on was ARM's acquisition by some other IT entity, like Apple perhaps.

To put those thoughts to rest, ARM's Chief Executive Offices (CEO) Warren East addressed the issue in an interview with The Telegraph.

“If you look at the end customer, like an Apple, or any company within the ecosystem at any particular point in the value chain, if one of those companies were to acquire ARM – well, why? They either want access to the technology, which they have already, or they want to prevent competitors from gaining access to it,” he stated.

“In reality it doesn't work very well... If you want to prevent your competitors getting the technology, it's not a very good way of doing it. There are 800 licensees out there. Most are perpetual licenses. They last forever. The worst that company could do is seriously inconvenience their competitors.”

All in all, even if there is interest in buying ARM's assets, the company does not see them having too great a motivation to leap into such a venture.

More than that, the outfit itself does not actually intend to let itself be integrated into another company. That, and getting bought by other chip designers, like Intel, would be something disallowed by antitrust organizations.

“If you get a buyer who is a significant part of the ecosystem, in which they already play a part, it is likely that they would be excluding part of the market and therefore diminishing part of the value of ARM,” said Warren East.

“ARM has been built around the principle of being agnostic at every point in the value chain. Because of that approach, it means that acquisitions are very difficult. It's not impossible, but ARM is a very valuable business as it is and a significant part of that value lies in its agnostic approach."