(Yicai) Sept. 15 -- Arm Holdings, a chip designer owned by Softbank Group, soared in value after its listing on the Nasdaq stock market yesterday, and Softbank’s chief financial officer told Yicai that Arm is a key part of the Japanese firm’s artificial intelligence ambitions.

As the world’s largest public offering so far this year, Arm raised USD4.9 billion at an initial offer price of USD51 per share, with the share price surging 25 percent to USD63.59 on its first day of trading, giving it a market capitalization of USD65 billion.

Softbank CFO Yoshimitsu Goto attended Arm’s bell-ringing ceremony yesterday. In an interview with Yicai outside the exchange, Goto said that he hopes Softbank stays at the forefront of advancing the AI revolution and that Arm can help achieve the goal.

The two companies will work together to explore various AI applications and businesses, Goto noted. AI has the power to redefine the world and every industry, and Softbank is committed to realizing this vision, he added.

Founded in 1990 and based in Cambridge in the United Kingdom, Arm went public in London and on Nasdaq in 1998, but Softbank acquired it in 2016 for USD32 billion and took the company private. Softbank tried unsuccessfully to sell Arm to US chip giant Nvidia in 2020 and then started to promote its re-listing.

Arm’s cornerstone investors include some of the world’s leading tech and chip firms such as Apple, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Nvidia, Intel, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, who bought up to USD735 million worth of shares at the initial offer price, according to Arm’s listing prospectus.

Arm has seen mediocre financial performance recently, with net profit in the quarter ended June 30 falling 53 percent from a year earlier to USD105 million and revenue down 2.5 percent at USD675 million.

Editor: Tom Litting