Arm, the British microchip designing company, has submitted an application to sell its shares in the US, potentially paving the way for the largest stock market listing this year with a targeted fundraising goal of $10 billion (£8 billion).

Unfortunately for the UK, Arm announced in March that it would not be listing its shares in London. In 2016, Japanese conglomerate Softbank acquired Arm for £23.4bn, when the company was listed on both the London and New York stock markets.

Softbank has submitted a draft registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the confidential listing of Arm. However, the announcement did not disclose any details about the proposed amount to be raised or the timing of the share sale. As per reports, Arm is expected to raise between $8bn and $10bn through the listing on the Nasdaq platform, which is dominated by technology companies.

Arm announced earlier this year that it had no intention of pursuing a listing on the London Stock Exchange, despite reports in January that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had reopened talks with Softbank about a possible listing in London. Arm explained that it believed a single US listing was the best option. Softbank has submitted a draft registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), indicating that it is moving forward with the multi-billion dollar sale, despite challenging conditions in global financial markets. The registration statement did not disclose the size of the offering or the expected timing.

The decline in the number of stock market listings since Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been significant. Furthermore, major technology companies have experienced a drop in share prices due to the pandemic.

Softbank stated that the share listing is contingent upon market and other factors, as well as the completion of the SEC's review process.

Last year, Softbank canceled the proposed $40 billion sale of Arm to technology firm Nvidia after encountering regulatory obstacles in the UK, US, and EU.

Arm, which was established in Cambridge, England in 1990, is occasionally dubbed as the "crown jewel" of the UK's technology industry. Its chip designs are leveraged by firms such as Apple and Samsung, as well as manufacturers like the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, to construct their own processors. As a result of the pandemic-induced semiconductor scarcity, the chip manufacturing sector has been experiencing a deceleration in demand.

Intel, the American chip making giant, reported its biggest quarterly loss to date last week, whereas its South Korean competitor, Samsung, disclosed a drop of over 90% in its profits. A prosperous initial public offering (IPO) of Arm would be a positive development for its proprietor Softbank, who’s Vision Funds have been negatively impacted by losses attributed to the depreciating valuations of numerous technology startup investments.