Nvidia asks Chinese regulators for approval of $40bn Arm deal
Nvidia Corp.
$826.93
10:54 25/04/24
Nvidia Corp submitted an application to Chinese competition regulators to review its proposed $40bn takeover of UK chip designer Arm, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday,
Nasdaq 100
17,411.31
10:55 25/04/24
According to people familiar with the matter and Chinese antitrust lawyers, the application was made in recent weeks and sets in motion a period of scrutiny that could take up to 18 months.
The US manufacturer expects to close the Arm acquisition by March 2022, after striking a deal with SoftBank Group in September 2020.
Chief executive officer, Jensen Huang, told the FT in May that the US chip company "started the process" of engaging with Chinese regulators and was confident the deal would be cleared within the time frame set by Nvidia.
China is a huge market for Arm, where its energy-efficient chip designs are licensed through a local joint-venture. Its sales in the country, which according to reports amounted to roughly $500m in 2019, give Chinese regulators the right to review the acquisition.
Several people familiar with the matter said national chipmakers, such as Huawei’s HiSilicon and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, had opposed the deal. Their concern stems from the possibility that a large portion of the country’s chip industry will become dependent on their US rival.
Huang said a union between Arm and Nvidia would “only bring more innovation to the marketplace” and that he remained confident the deal would close.