The tech industry, like any other for that matter, is regularly shaken by major acquisitions. These sometimes make a lot of noise.
NVIDIA had struck a big blow a few months ago by announcing to be prepared to buy another giant of the tech, namely ARM, belonging to SoftBank. These are the kinds of acquisitions that can truly transform an industry. But it is still far too early for that. And first of all, the agreement must be accepted by the competent authorities. Qualcomm argues against.
Qualcomm steps up against takeover of ARM by NVIDIA
Last year, we learned that NVIDIA was going to buy ARM from Japanese giant SoftBank in a deal valued at some $ 40 billion. Originally there were rumors that Apple might be interested, which made some sense given that today the US giant is making its own chips, but so it would appear that NVIDIA is the one that has it. eventually won.
And that could abort the transaction
That being said, and it is not a surprise, such an acquisition does not please everyone. Qualcomm, for example, takes a very negative view of the latter. Although the company has not publicly communicated on the matter, a CNBC report reveals that Qualcomm had communicated its views to several regulators around the world, including the US FTC, the European Commission, the Competition. and Markets Authority of the United Kingdom and the State Administration for Market Regulation of China.
Qualcomm always expressed concern about such a move, although the precise reasons were not disclosed. It is in any case not very difficult to imagine why. Indeed, companies like Qualcomm, Apple, Samsung, Huawei and MediaTek manufacture their own chips but these chips are all based on an ARM architecture. For a new company to take over ARM means that things could change, potentially drastically, when it comes to business licenses, availability, etc. This could therefore greatly impact the development of future Qualcomm products.
Still, this acquisition is still far from being finalized. Regulators currently need additional information before they can make their decision, but if this report is true, Qualcomm’s objections could significantly slow the operation, or even prevent it. To be continued.