US chip maker Qualcomm has announced it is open to the idea of investing in UK chip designer Arm if the company’s US$40 billion sale to Nvidia is blocked by regulators, according to The Telegraph newspaper.
Qualcomm’s incoming CEO, Cristiano Amon, said Qualcomm would be willing to buy a stake in Arm alongside other industry investors if SoftBank, Arm’s current owner, listed the company on the stock market instead of selling it to Nvidia, the newspaper reported Sunday, June 13.
“If Arm has an independent future, I think you will find there is a lot of interest from a lot of the companies within the ecosystem, including Qualcomm, to invest in Arm,” Amon said. “If it moves out of SoftBank and it goes into a process of becoming a publicly-traded company, [with] a consortium of companies that invest, including many of its customers, I think those are great possibilities.”
Amon added that Qualcomm would “definitely be open to it” and that the company has “had discussions with other companies that feel the same way,” The Telegraph reported.
Arm was spun out of an early computing company called Acorn Computers in 1990. The company’s energy-efficient chip architectures are used in 95% of the world’s smartphones and 95% of the chips designed in China. The company licenses its chip designs to more than 500 companies, which use them to make their own chips.
An Nvidia spokesperson told CNBC that Arm needed more than an IPO if it is to achieve its full potential.
“Arm needs an infusion of new technology that it can provide to Arm licensees everywhere, which is why we stepped up and agreed to buy Arm,” the spokesperson said. “Our technologies and Qualcomm’s are highly complementary — we’d welcome Qualcomm’s help in creating new technologies and products for the entire Arm ecosystem.”
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
Plaintiffs Seek Communications In Antitrust Case Against Pioneer
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
UK Government Approves Vodafone-Hutchison Merger
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Senate Majority Leader Announces Plan for AI Regulation Framework
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
BBVA Initiates Aggressive Takeover Bid for Sabadell
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
TikTok to Label AI-Generated Content Amid Election Interference Concerns
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Ecosystems
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Mapping Antitrust onto Digital Ecosystems
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Ecosystems and Competition Law: A Law and Political Economy Approach
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Ecosystem Theories of Harm: What is Beyond the Buzzword?
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Open Ecosystems: Benefits, Challenges, and Implications for Antitrust
May 9, 2024 by
CPI