Apple signs new agreement with Arm that goes past 2040

Apple has struck a deal with the chip design company Arm that goes past 2040, as reported by Reuters. A disclosure noting the arrangement appeared in new documents Arm filed as part of its planned IPO.

The statement about the deal doesn’t have much additional detail. “We have entered into a new long-term agreement with Apple that extends beyond 2040, continuing our longstanding relationship of collaboration with Apple and Apple’s access to the Arm architecture,” Arm said in the document. But given how much Apple relies on Arm’s designs for the custom chips powering its most popular and profitable products, like the iPhone, Mac, iPad, and Apple Watch, in addition to the upcoming Vision Pro, it signals that Apple plans to continue utilizing Arm’s technology platform for a very long time to come.

It’s not just Apple that has a long-term interest in Arm. In its documents, Arm also said that some major technology companies, including AMD, Apple, Google, Intel, Nvidia, Samsung, and TSMC, have “indicated an interest” in buying “up to an aggregate” of $735 million in Arm shares.

Arm’s IPO follows Nvidia’s failed attempt to buy it from parent company SoftBank. That deal was announced in 2020 but scrapped in 2022 due to “significant regulatory challenges,” as it faced intense scrutiny from UK, EU, and US regulators.