Britain's competition watchdog to probe Nvidia's Arm takeover

Britain's government has been scrutinising the deal, including commitments from Nvidia to keep Arm's head office and staff in Cambridge, eastern England.

January 08, 2021 11:12 am | Updated 11:12 am IST

Britain's competition watchdog to probe Nvidia's Arm takeover.

Britain's competition watchdog to probe Nvidia's Arm takeover.

(Subscribe to our Today's Cache newsletter for a quick snapshot of top 5 tech stories. Click here to subscribe for free.)

Britain's competition regulator said on Wednesday it would start an investigation into Nvidia Corp's $40 billion deal to buy UK-based chip designer Arm Holdings .

"The CMA is likely to consider whether, following the takeover, Arm has an incentive to withdraw, raise prices or reduce the quality of its IP licensing services to Nvidia's rivals," the Competition and Markets Authority said.

Nvidia struck a deal with Japan's Softbank Group in September for Arm.

Britain's government has been scrutinising the deal, including commitments from Nvidia to keep Arm's head office and staff in Cambridge, eastern England.

Arm was sold to Softbank in 2016 after the Japanese conglomerate pledged to retain the company's headquarters in Cambridge and increase employment.

Also Read : China state media outlet calls Nvidia's Arm purchase 'disturbing', urges regulatory caution

Arm's energy-efficient architecture under pins processors made by Apple, Samsung, Qualcomm and others, making the technology ubiquitous in smartphones and a host of other devices.

The CMA said it was inviting views on the impact of the deal on competition.

Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.