Is Arm Holdings profitable and growing in 2026?

Yes. Arm's fiscal year 2026 (ended March 31, 2026) revenue hit a record $4.92 billion, up 23% year over year, marking a third straight year of over 20% growth, with royalty revenue at $2.61 billion and licensing at $2.31 billion, per Arm's May 6, 2026 results.

Who owns Arm Holdings?

Japan's SoftBank Group controls Arm, holding roughly 86.72% of shares as of March 2026 filings, despite Arm trading publicly on NASDAQ as ARM since its September 14, 2023 IPO, which raised $4.87 billion at a $54.5 billion valuation.

Could RISC-V replace Arm's CPU business?

Not yet. RISC-V is a funded threat, SiFive raised a $400 million Series G in April 2026 at a $3.65 billion valuation with NVIDIA investing, but RISC-V has no shipped material data-center design win versus Arm's Neoverse as of mid-2026.

Is Arm losing its legal fight with Qualcomm?

Arm lost its initial Nuvia-related claims against Qualcomm in Delaware federal court on September 30, 2025, a complete victory for Qualcomm; Arm has appealed, and Qualcomm's own countersuit was expected to go to trial around March 2026.

How exposed is Arm to AI disruption?

AI is mostly a tailwind for Arm: data-center royalty revenue more than doubled year over year in FY2026 (ended March 31, 2026), and Arm launched an AI-era 'Arm AGI CPU' with Meta in March 2026, targeting first production revenue by Q4 FY2027.

Who is Arm Holdings' biggest competitor?

Qualcomm is Arm's most acute rival, both a top licensee and a September 2025 courtroom opponent, while RISC-V, backed by SiFive's $400 million April 2026 raise and NVIDIA's investment, is the longer-term structural threat to Arm's royalty model.

Semiconductor companies · United Kingdom

Arm Holdings

arm.com ↗

UK firm licenses CPU designs running in most phones, PCs, and cloud chips.

Hard to displace

Assessed 24 July 2026 · Evidence as of 24 July 2026

Strong structural protection; the business model survives ai pressure.

On the recordSince 24 July 2026 · Checkable from March 2026 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Qualcomm countersuit appeal ruling on Arm's royalty enforcement rights

The call

Arm's designs sit underneath most of the world's chips, with AI adding royalty growth while RISC-V remains a funded but unshipped rival architecture.

Arm Holdings doesn't make chips itself. Instead, it licenses its chip design blueprint to companies like Apple, Qualcomm, Samsung, and Nvidia, who then build the actual chips. Arm has locked in these companies over 35 years because they have built entire operating systems, software tools, and apps around Arm's design, making it extremely expensive and risky to switch. The main threat is RISC-V, a free alternative blueprint that other companies can use without paying royalties, though it has not yet won any major production deals. What could change everything is if a big cloud company like Amazon or Google starts using RISC-V chips at scale instead of Arm, or if Arm's legal battles with Qualcomm over licensing terms go badly.

Why

AI pressure: None apparent. Every AI accelerator still needs a host CPU; Arm's data-center royalty revenue more than doubled YoY in FY2026. Could AI do the core job? Unlikely.

Bigger players: RISC-V ecosystem (SiFive, Nvidia-backed, hyperscaler custom silicon efforts). Royalty-free RISC-V has funding and hyperscaler interest but no production socket yet displacing Arm in data centers. Could a giant copy it? No, they are blocked.

What protects it. 35 years of shipped software and compiler compatibility plus architectural licenses with Apple, Qualcomm, Samsung, and Nvidia.

What would change this call

Amazon Graviton or Google TPU line switches its CPU ISA to RISC-V in a shipping product. Would show a hyperscaler defecting from Arm's data-center royalty base.
Qualcomm countersuit appeal ruling (expected around March 2026) limits Arm's royalty enforcement. Would show Arm's licensing model is legally constrained, weakening its leverage over big licensees.
Arm's FY2027 Q1 earnings (around July 2026) show data-center royalty growth decelerating sharply. Would show early RISC-V or custom-silicon inroads into Arm's fastest-growing segment.

Key numbers

FY2026 revenue $4.92B, up 23% YoY (2026-05-06)
FY2026 royalty revenue $2.61B, up 21% YoY (2026-05-06)
350+ billion Arm chips shipped to date (2026-06-25)

Named risks

Qualcomm countersuit trial (~March 2026) could weaken Arm's royalty enforcement power. Severity: high
RISC-V ecosystem gaining funded momentum (SiFive $400M raise, NVIDIA backing) toward data-center share. Severity: medium
AGI CPU ramp faces execution risk with opex up ~30% YoY against an ambitious $15B FY2031 target. Severity: medium
SoftBank's ~86-90% ownership concentrates control and strategic decisions like the rebuffed Cerebras bid. Severity: low

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
RISC-V (SiFive)	gaining on	SiFive raised $400M Series G at $3.65B valuation with NVIDIA investing, targeting data-center CPU IP, April 2026
Qualcomm	contesting	Qualcomm won Delaware Nuvia case Sept 30, 2025; countersuit trial expected ~March 2026
NVIDIA (as RISC-V investor)	contesting	NVIDIA invests in Arm rival SiFive (April 2026) while co-designing Arm-based Vera Rubin platform, Jan 2026
Hyperscaler custom silicon (Broadcom/Marvell-designed)	gaining on	Google TPU, AWS Trainium, Microsoft Maia reduce reliance on off-the-shelf Arm cores, per April 2026 reporting

Questions people ask

Is Arm Holdings profitable and growing in 2026?: Yes. Arm's fiscal year 2026 (ended March 31, 2026) revenue hit a record $4.92 billion, up 23% year over year, marking a third straight year of over 20% growth, with royalty revenue at $2.61 billion and licensing at $2.31 billion, per Arm's May 6, 2026 results.
Who owns Arm Holdings?: Japan's SoftBank Group controls Arm, holding roughly 86.72% of shares as of March 2026 filings, despite Arm trading publicly on NASDAQ as ARM since its September 14, 2023 IPO, which raised $4.87 billion at a $54.5 billion valuation.
Could RISC-V replace Arm's CPU business?: Not yet. RISC-V is a funded threat, SiFive raised a $400 million Series G in April 2026 at a $3.65 billion valuation with NVIDIA investing, but RISC-V has no shipped material data-center design win versus Arm's Neoverse as of mid-2026.
Is Arm losing its legal fight with Qualcomm?: Arm lost its initial Nuvia-related claims against Qualcomm in Delaware federal court on September 30, 2025, a complete victory for Qualcomm; Arm has appealed, and Qualcomm's own countersuit was expected to go to trial around March 2026.
How exposed is Arm to AI disruption?: AI is mostly a tailwind for Arm: data-center royalty revenue more than doubled year over year in FY2026 (ended March 31, 2026), and Arm launched an AI-era 'Arm AGI CPU' with Meta in March 2026, targeting first production revenue by Q4 FY2027.
Who is Arm Holdings' biggest competitor?: Qualcomm is Arm's most acute rival, both a top licensee and a September 2025 courtroom opponent, while RISC-V, backed by SiFive's $400 million April 2026 raise and NVIDIA's investment, is the longer-term structural threat to Arm's royalty model.

Timeline

2026-07-20Jefferies raises AGI CPU revenue estimate to $18B by FY2031
2026-05-13Arm and SoftBank make rebuffed approach to buy Cerebras Systems before its IPO
2026-05-06Arm reports record FY2026 revenue of $4.92B, up 23% YoY
2026-04-09SiFive raises $400M Series G at $3.65B valuation with NVIDIA investing
2026-03-01Arm and Meta co-develop and launch the Arm AGI CPU for AI-era data centers
2025-11-30SoftBank closes $6.5B acquisition of Ampere Computing
2025-10-01Arm appeals Qualcomm verdict; Qualcomm countersuit trial set for ~March 2026
2025-09-30Qualcomm wins complete victory over Arm in Delaware federal court
2025-07-30Arm reports Q1 FY2026 revenue of $1.053B, second straight quarter above $1B
2023-09-14Arm IPOs on NASDAQ, raising $4.87B at $54.5B valuation

Revision history

24 July 2026

First assessed. Hard to displace. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

In the same band

NXP Semiconductors Melexis NV Elmos Semiconductor SE