(Reuters) -SoftBank Group Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:) plans to develop artificial intelligence (AI) chips and aims to launch the first products in 2025, Asia reported on Sunday.
Britain’s Arm will set up an AI chip division and aim to build a prototype by spring 2025, the report said. Mass production will be handled by contract manufacturers and is expected to start in fall 2025, Nikkei Asia said.
Arm will pay the initial development costs, which could total hundreds of billions of yen, with SoftBank (TYO:) also contributing, the report said.
Once a mass production system is established, the AI chip business could be spun off and placed under SoftBank, the paper said, adding that SoftBank is already negotiating with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (TSMC) and others over production, looking to secure the production capacity. .
Arm, SoftBank and TSMC declined to comment on the Nikkei report.
The British chip designer, which licenses its chip designs and makes money through royalties, has expanded into the data center market, where operators are looking to build their own chips to power new AI models and reduce their dependence on dominant supplier Nvidia (NASDAQ). Reduce. :).
Bets that Arm will benefit from a surge in AI computing have doubled the chipmaker’s share price since its initial public offering last September, giving it a market value of more than $100 billion.
SoftBank is expected to return to the red on Monday when it reports earnings. Investors are eagerly awaiting clues about new growth investments as the company has ample liquidity and can make money on its huge stake in Arm, whose share price roughly doubled in February on AI excitement.
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