Semiconductor Chip: The acquisition of the British ARM by the American Nvidia Blocked by the Regulators
After almost eighteen months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, the American giant Nvidia announced on Tuesday February 8, 2022 that it would give up its mega-purchase for 66 Billion Dollars (58 Billion Euros) of the U.K. chip design provider Arm Ltd
It faced a wall of regulatory opposition, coming from all the major economic powers: American, European, British, Chinese, Korean and Japanese regulators had all raised objections. In September 2020, the announcement of the acquisition caused a tremor in the microchip market, where a few but very powerful players are vying for global dominance.
On one side was Nvidia, a Californian Giant, leader in particular in the market for Graphics Chips, used among other things in video games, but also a colossus in Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Vehicles and Computer Networks. On the other hand, a British company, based in Cambridge, which does not manufacture anything, but does the design of chips for the Whole World of Microprocessors.
“Unique place in the supply chain”
All the majors in the sector buy this technology, using its licenses: Intel, AMD, Qualcomm… Hermann Hauser, one of the founders of ARM, who has no further ties with the company, describes it as “Switzerland of microprocessors”: a neutral place, selling its cutting-edge design to all players in the sector. As a result, ARM technology is one of the few in Europe to still be dominant.
It is used in 95% of mobile phones in the world, but also in the Internet of Things, data centers… “We are also becoming the standard in cars, some of which have ten or twenty chips [from their technology], others even thirty or forty”, adds Rene Haas, the new general manager of ARM, who took office last week, after the failure of the acquisition.
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