(FT) US Federal Trade Commission has moved to court to stop the planned $82 billion deal for Arm, a UK chip design entity currently under the control of SoftBank.
FTC says the cash and stock deal would give Nvidia a monopoly over computing technology and designs. UK regulators also flagged the deal.
Holly Vedova, an FTC director, says the regulator is acting to avert a potential stifling of innovation for next-gen technologies by a chip conglomerate.
Nvidia says it will continue to demonstrate the value of the deal and how it promotes competition. The company intends to invest in Arm’s research and development while keeping an open licensing model.
Nvidia’s closest competitors, such as Qualcomm, have objected to Arm’s deal, with other indirect competitors like Broadcom supporting it.
The deal for Arm could now extend beyond March when it was expected to be complete as the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority and the European Commission conduct an investigation.
At $82 billion, the Arm’s deal would have been the largest transaction of a semiconductor group. If the deal falters, Nvidia would pay SoftBank a $1.25 billion fee.
NVDA: NASDAQ is down -0.42% on premarket.
