The fervor surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) investments continues to escalate, with Arm Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:ARM) emerging as the latest beneficiary of the AI boom since its Nasdaq debut in September.
On February 8, ARM shares surged by an impressive 47.8% following robust AI spending, which bolstered the chip designer’s outlook. CEO Rene Haas emphasized the immense potential of AI, stating that it represents a profound opportunity in our lifetimes and asserting that we are still in the nascent stages of its development.
ARM’s bullish projections for the March quarter, with revenue forecasted between $850 million to $900 million, substantially surpassed analysts’ expectations of $778 million. Adjusted earnings per share also outperformed Wall Street estimates, projected at around 30 cents compared to the consensus of 21 cents. Additionally, ARM raised its sales forecast for fiscal 2024 to a range between $3.16 billion and $3.21 billion.
For those unfamiliar with ARM, the company, which is 90%-owned by Japan’s Softbank Group (SFTBY), plays a pivotal role in a diverse array of products, from smartphones to automobiles to household appliances. ARM licenses chip designs to manufacturers receives royalties for each unit shipped and provides essential design blocks utilized by industry giants such as Qualcomm, Amazon, and Apple in building their processors.
A distinguishing feature of ARM’s chip designs is their superior energy efficiency, making them the industry standard for mobile processors, capturing a remarkable 99% market share. This energy efficiency has also facilitated significant penetration into the data center chip market, where minimizing energy consumption is increasingly crucial.
Moreover, ARM stands to benefit from the transition to its latest technology iteration, V9, which commands twice the royalty rate of its predecessors. Adopting more ARM computing cores per device, such as in Microsoft’s new server chips featuring over 100 cores, further boosts royalties. ARM is also gaining traction in AI-related sectors and data centers, evidenced by the utilization of its V9 chip design in notable products like Nvidia’s Grace Hopper and Amazon’s Graviton.
While some skeptics argue that ARM’s focus on central processing units (CPUs) may limit its relevance in AI computing dominated by graphics processing units (GPUs), this overlooks ARM’s pivotal role in ancillary computing tasks essential for AI operations.
In light of ARM’s robust growth prospects and its integral position in the evolving data center and AI computing landscape, investors have compelling reasons to consider ARM stock. The company’s potential for increasing royalty rates, expanding market share in cloud computing and automotive sectors, and maintaining financial health underscore its attractiveness as an investment opportunity.
With ARM positioned for sustained growth and innovation in the AI era, buying ARM stock below $150 per share presents an enticing opportunity for investors looking to capitalize on the AI revolution.
Featured Image: Freepik
Author Faith Yakubu 
