Arm, known for licencing its chip blueprints, is set to launch its own chip in 2025, reported Financial Times, citing sources.   

The move marks a shift in Arm’s business model and comes after it onboarded Meta as one of its first customers.  

The UK-based company, owned by SoftBank, aims to unveil the chip as early as this summer, according to sources familiar with the plans.  

This move could potentially disrupt the $700bn semiconductor industry, positioning Arm as a competitor to its major customers. 

Arm’s chip, expected to serve as a central processing unit for servers in large data centres, will be customisable for clients such as Meta.  

Production will be outsourced to a manufacturer such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.  

Arm’s partnerships with Nvidia and Amazon have driven its growth in data centres, which power AI assistants from companies like OpenAI and Meta. 

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has placed Arm at the core of his plans to build a vast AI infrastructure network.  

In January 2025, Son introduced the Stargate initiative, a $500bn project in collaboration with OpenAI, Abu Dhabi state fund MGX, and Oracle.  

Arm is a key technology partner for Stargate, alongside Microsoft and Nvidia. 

SoftBank is also nearing the acquisition of Ampere, an Oracle-backed chip designer, valued at around $6.5bn.  

This acquisition is also crucial to Arm’s chipmaking project.  

Meta is among the latest tech companies to choose Arm for server chips, moving away from traditional providers such as Intel and AMD.  

Meta’s finance chief, Susan Li, stated, “extending our custom silicon efforts to [AI] training workloads” would enhance efficiency and performance. 

Arm is also expected to contribute a chip that could become integral to Sir Jony Ive’s project aimed at developing an AI-driven personal device.  

This venture is a collaboration between LoveFrom, the design company founded by the former iPhone designer, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and SoftBank. 

Arm’s journey began in a converted turkey barn in Cambridgeshire 35 years ago.  

It gained prominence in the mobile market by licencing designs to Apple and Android suppliers such as Qualcomm and MediaTek.  

Under CEO Rene Haas, Arm’s business model has evolved to focus on higher royalties and designing more chip components.