Nvidia Said to Near Deal to Buy Chip Designer Arm for More Than $40 Billion

Nvidia is known for its graphics chips that power video games, but it has developed other markets including AI, self-driving cars, and data centres.

By Reuters | Updated: 13 September 2020 16:29 IST

Nvidia Said to Near Deal to Buy Chip Designer Arm for More Than $40 Billion

Nvidia booth is shown at the E3 2017 Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2017

Highlights

A deal for Arm could be announced as early as next week
Arm supplies the chip technology for virtually all mobile devices
Last year Nvidia said it would make its chips work with those from Arm

Nvidia is close to a deal to buy British chip designer Arm Holdings from SoftBank Group for more than $40 billion (roughly Rs. 2,93,817 crores) in a deal which would create a giant in the chip industry, according to two people familiar with the matter.

A cash and stock deal for Arm could be announced as early as next week, the sources said.

Nvidia is known for its graphics chips that power video games, but it has developed other markets including artificial intelligence, self-driving cars and data centres.

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Arm supplies the chip technology for virtually all mobile devices such as phones and tablets but is also expanding into processors for cars, data centre services and other devices.

The British company does not make chips. Instead it licenses out the underlying technology so others can make chips with it. It has previously collaborated with Nvidia.

Last year Nvidia said it would make its chips work with processors from Arm to build supercomputers, deepening its push into systems that are used for modelling both climate change predictions and nuclear weapons.

Nvidia Said to Be in Advanced Talks to Buy SoftBank’s Chip Company Arm

SoftBank acquired Arm for $32 billion in 2016, its largest-ever purchase, in part to expand into the internet-of-things technology, which connects everyday devices from traffic signals to refrigerators to the internet.

The terms would mark a big win for the Japanese company which has struggled to jump-start growth in the business, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported on the deal earlier.

Nvidia declined to comment. SoftBank and Arm did not respond to Reuters' requests for comments.

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