Do we like them?

Do we like Arm Holdings?

Designs the Arm chip architecture and licenses it to phone, PC and server chipmakers; based in Cambridge, UK.

Our score: 5 out of 10. Important, widely used chip designer. It's tied to its SoftBank parent and in messy licensing fights with customers. We'd hold back until its disputes are settled.

Arm designs the chip blueprints inside most of the world's phones. It doesn't make chips. It licenses designs to others. SoftBank owns almost 90% of it, and Arm is listed on Nasdaq.

CEO Rene Haas now has a second job. Since April 2026 he has also been part-time CEO of SoftBank Group International. The FT reported this ties to SoftBank's AI chip push against Nvidia. So Arm's boss now serves its main owner too.

Arm sued Qualcomm over chip licences. In September 2025 the judge ruled for Qualcomm on the decided claims and refused Arm a new trial. Arm said it would appeal.

Qualcomm then sued Arm. Bloomberg Government reported a mixed jury verdict in October 2026. The jury found Arm breached a licensing agreement and interfered with Qualcomm's relationship with Meta, with only nominal damages. It sided with Arm on four other counts.

Qualcomm also filed antitrust complaints in several places, accusing Arm of restricting access to its tech and abusing its dominance. Those are accusations, and we found no ruling. The mixed legal record and heavy SoftBank control leave us at 5.