In 2016, Arm was acquired by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group for $32bn. Nvidia announced its intention to buy a 90 per cent stake in the firm for $40bn in September 2020.
The deal immediately faced regulatory scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission in the US, from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and from the EU’s antitrust regulators.
Following yesterday’s announcement by Nvidia, the CMA confirmed that it would cancel its investigation into the merger.
The latest deal attracted more criticism than SoftBank’s acquisition due to Nvidia’s significant presence in the semiconductor industry, which could present a threat to Arm’s longstanding reputation as an open and neutral supplier.
Even Arm’s original co-founder, Hermann Hauser, criticised the deal, saying it was a “disaster for Cambridge, the UK and Europe” and should be “blocked by regulators”.
The CMA said that an in-depth investigation into the deal was warranted on competition...