Nvidia & Arm Hit Back Against UK Antitrust Ruling

In a 28-page written submission to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that was published Monday, January 10, the semiconductor heavyweights Nvidia, Softbank, and Arm outlined why their deal should be approved, reported CNBC.

The deal, which is set to miss the target deadline of March 2022, is being closely scrutinized by regulators in the US, the UK, Europe, and China, who are concerned that it could reduce competition. SoftBank, Nvidia, and Arm agreed to complete the transaction within 18 months of September 2020.

There’s a high chance that one or more of the regulators will block the deal altogether, according to Gartner analyst Alan Priestley and other investors.

Related:  FTC Sues To Block Nvidia’s $40B Deal For UK’s Arm

Widely viewed as a the jewel in the crown of the UK tech industry, Arm was spun out of an early computing company called Acorn Computers in 1990. The company’s energy-efficient chip designs are used in 95% of the world’s smartphones and 95% of the chips designed in China. The company, bought by SoftBank in 2016 for £24 billion (US$32 billion), licenses its chip designs to more than 500 companies who use them to make their own semiconductors.

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