Arm Holdings plc and South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources have signed a memorandum of understanding to launch a dedicated chip‑design school, tentatively named the "Arm School," in South Korea. The program will train approximately 1,400 high‑level chip‑design specialists between 2026 and 2030, with the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology slated to host the curriculum and faculty.
The curriculum will blend core semiconductor engineering with advanced AI‑hardware design, covering ARMv9 architecture, compute‑subsystem (CSS) integration, and Neoverse platform development. Students will receive hands‑on experience with Arm’s latest IP, positioning them to contribute directly to the country’s fabless and system‑semiconductor sectors and to Arm’s licensing pipeline.
South Korea’s K‑Semiconductor strategy aims to place the country among the world’s top three AI powers by 2030. By investing in a talent pipeline, the partnership aligns with that national goal and with Arm’s own focus on AI‑driven data‑center demand. The school is expected to deepen customer lock‑in, as graduates will be more likely to adopt Arm IP in their future roles, thereby supporting long‑term royalty growth.
Arm CEO Rene Haas emphasized that the initiative “strengthens the ecosystem that fuels our IP licensing business.” SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son, who holds a 90% stake in Arm, highlighted the importance of a skilled workforce for sustaining AI innovation. South Korean officials, including Minister Kim Jung‑kwan and presidential chief of staff Kim Yong‑beom, underscored the school’s role in bolstering Korea’s fabless and system‑chip sectors.
Industry observers note that the partnership fills a critical gap in the region’s talent supply chain, potentially giving Arm a competitive edge over rivals such as NVIDIA and AMD. The long‑term benefit is a more robust pipeline of designers who can accelerate the adoption of Arm’s compute‑subsystem solutions in AI workloads, reinforcing Arm’s strategic position in the growing data‑center market.
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