It was back in September 2020 that we first found out Nvidia was set to acquire the UK chip designer ARM for a cool $40 Billion. ARM is a pretty big player when it comes to chips, licensing blueprints to all sorts of other companies like Apple, Samsung, and Qualcomm. It’s a very important company in the UK technology scene.
Back then, Nvidia announced plans to expand ARM’s Cambridge headquarters into a new AI focussed research and development site. AI seemed to be a driving part of Nvidia’s goals with the acquisition and the company expected the deal to be done within 18 months.
This seems unlikely to come about as the UK has just launched a six-month long investigation into Nvidia’s acquisition of ARM. Reuters reports that Britain is launching the investigation due to ARMs position in the industry, citing national security and the broader supply chain as potential issues.
The UK isn’t the first government to go looking into the sale. The European Commission opened a formal investigation earlier in the year, also being worried about ARMs prominent place in the industry.
As ARM’s chips are in use by so many companies, including Nvidia’s competitors, it’s a real concern for many. So it’s no surprise that government bodies are continuing to get involved.
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While Nvidia has assured that it will keep the neutrality of ARM, it has seen an increase in stock price since the deal. It has also shown off some pretty neat ray tracing and DLSS using ARM based silicon, so we may just have to wait and see.
If you want a much deeper dive into ARM, its relationship with Nvidia up until now, and what this acquisition means, we have an extensive write up for your perusal.
