SoftBank Group is the parent that acquired ARM Holdings in 2016.
SoftBank announced its purchase of ARM in July 2016 and completed the transaction later that year for approximately £24 billion. ARM designs instruction-set architectures and processor cores that are licensed to chip manufacturers rather than mainly selling finished chips under its own brand.
ARM-based designs became especially important in smartphones because of their power efficiency. The architecture also expanded into automobiles, embedded systems, data centers, and other devices. This makes ARM distinct from companies such as Nvidia or Intel, which are more closely associated with branded semiconductor products and platforms.
SoftBank Group is a Japanese technology-investment company founded by Masayoshi Son. ARM was later listed publicly again in 2023, but SoftBank retained a controlling interest. That means ARM can be a separately traded company while still being controlled by the SoftBank group.