Arm Holdings CEO Rene Haas told CNBC that the China subsidiary of Arm is "doing well" and has great prospects in data centers and automobiles, despite the turbulent geopolitical climate of the last few years. However, Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, which took over Arm for $32 billion in 2016, declared that SoftBank had greatly reduced its investments in China.
You can watch David Faber's interview with Arm CEO Rene Haas and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son live on CNBC Pro.Rene Haas, CEO of Arm Holdings, said in a CNBC interview prior to the company's Thursday Nasdaq debut that their China subsidiary is "doing well" with strong potential in data center and automotive applications, despite the geopolitical upheavals of the few years.Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, however, proclaimed that SoftBank has significantly reduced its "exposure in China". This statement was somewhat contradicted by the fact that Arm's Chinese customers are still legally able to buy the firm's semiconductor technology and designs, and that Arm only directly holds 5% of Arm China, although the group makes up almost a quarter of their fiscal 2023 revenue, according to pre-offering documents.The Biden administration has been continually instating rigid export regulations on high-powered semiconductors used in AI. This has already been impacting Intel and Nvidia, and could soon affect Arm, who does not manufacture chips itself but does sell designs to many chipmakers. The government has likewise added fresh outbound investment restrictions on various technology sectors.Masayoshi Son focused on SoftBank's investment in Alibaba when interviewed by David Faber, saying that "most of the shares in Alibaba from SoftBank [are] already sold". It is speculated that this reduced exposure is not only due to issues with China, but because SoftBank has been taking losses on its Vision Fund I and II (though Vision Fund I has now returned to profitability). Plus, one the company's biggest non-public holdings, ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, is facing pressure from the U.S. government related to data collection practices.
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