Nvidia Faces Antitrust Probe Over Arm Acquisition

Nvidia’s $40 billion bid to acquire British chip designer Arm Holdings from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group hit a snag this week after British government officials began preparing an antitrust investigation, The Wall Street Journal wrote Wednesday. Nvidia’s $40 billion bid to acquire British chip designer Arm Holdings from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group hit a snag this week after British government officials began preparing an antitrust investigation, The Wall Street Journal wrote Wednesday. The United Kingdom’s Competitions and Markets Authority invited third parties to comment on how the merger could affect competition in the market ahead of a formal antitrust probe, according to the report. The investigation won’t consider national security concerns, but other arms of the government may still intervene. Nvidia announced plans to acquire Arm Holdings after months of rumors back in September. Under the deal, Arm would continue to operate out of its headquarters in Cambridge, England, and will retain its brand, open licensing, and customer neutrality. At the time, Nvidia also detailed plans to begin construction of an Arm-based supercomputer on Arm’s campus, and license many of its own semiconductor technologies via Arm’s well-established licensing model. From the beginning, the massive deal was expected to face stiff scrutiny from regulators in multiple markets, including the U.S., United Kingdom, China, and the European Union. This week’s antitrust probe shouldn’t come as a surprise, as from the onset of the deal officials in the U.K. had signaled that they would be watching the deal carefully. U.S.-based Nvidia is also likely to face intense regulatory scrutiny from China, which has been subject to intense trade restrictions that have threatened Chinese semiconductor interests. Nvidia said it expects the regulatory review process to take approximately 18 months.