Nvidia Abandons Arm Acquisition in Face of 'Significant Regulatory Challenges'

As expected, Nvidia has officially abandoned efforts to acquire chip maker Arm after talks reportedly "collapsed" between the two parties on Monday, according to the Financial Times.

arm logo blue bg
From the paywalled report:

SoftBank and Nvidia said they had agreed to scrap the deal because of "significant regulatory challenges preventing the consummation of the transaction, despite good faith efforts by the parties."

Reports late last month suggested California-based Nvidia was edging away from its planned acquisition of the British chip company, owned by Japanese multinational Softbank, because of its failure to win approval from regulators.

In December 2021, the United States Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit to prevent Nvidia from acquiring Arm as the purchase would give Nvidia control over computing technology and designs that rival firms rely on to develop competing chips.

The FTC said that allowing the acquisition to move forward would stifle "innovative next-generation technologies" and would "unfairly undermine" Nvidia's competitors.

Nvidia is a customer of Arm and Arm has many licensing deals with Nvidia competitors, which is why it was clear from the beginning that the purchase would be subject to regulatory scrutiny. Nvidia first announced plans to purchase Arm in September 2020.

Chipmaker Qualcomm was one of the Nvidia competitors that objected to the purchase, and in February 2021, it told several regulatory bodies in the US, UK, and EU that the acquisition would allow Nvidia to become the gatekeeper for Arm's technology, preventing other chipmakers from using it.

Arm licenses its chip designs to over 500 companies, including Apple, and its architecture is used in 95 percent of the world's smartphones. Arm's hardware underpins all of Apple's custom silicon processors such as the A14 in the iPhone 12 and the M1 in the MacBook Pro, since Apple licenses the Arm instruction set.

If the proposed $66 billion dollar acquisition had gone through, it would have been the biggest sale in the history of the semiconductor industry.

Tags: Arm, Nvidia

Popular Stories

Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's CarPlay Ultra Is Here – Does Your iPhone Support It?

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature. According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's 'CarPlay Ultra' Experience Now Available

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:07 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its next-generation CarPlay experience, now dubbed "CarPlay Ultra" begins rolling out today, starting with Aston Martin vehicles. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. CarPlay Ultra is now available with new Aston Martin vehicle orders in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be available for existing models that feature the brand's next-generation ...
CarPlay Ultra Climate Controls

Apple Says These Vehicle Brands Plan to Offer All-New CarPlay Ultra

Thursday May 15, 2025 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced the launch of CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. CarPlay Ultra features deep integration with a vehicle's instrument cluster and systems, built-in Radio and Climate apps, customizable widgets, and more. The interface is tailored to each vehicle model and automaker's identity, and drivers can also adjust...
iPhone 12 Made in India

Trump Tells Tim Cook to Stop Building iPhones in India

Thursday May 15, 2025 2:21 am PDT by
President Donald Trump has asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to halt the company's manufacturing expansion in India, in a potential disruption of Apple's plan to shift iPhone production away from China. "I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday," Trump said during his state visit to Qatar, according to Bloomberg. "He is building all over India." "They [India] have offered us a deal where...
apple music

Apple Music Gets New Transfer Tool to Make Switching From Spotify Easier

Wednesday May 14, 2025 5:17 pm PDT by
Apple this week introduced a new feature designed to allow prospective Apple Music users to import their saved music and playlists from third-party music services to Apple Music. The feature is either in an expanded testing phase or it has started rolling out, and it is available in Australia and New Zealand according to an Apple Support document. Signs of the transfer option first surfaced...
maxresdefault

Here's the First Real-World Look at Apple's CarPlay Ultra

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:52 am PDT by
The first videos of Apple's CarPlay Ultra experience are now available, providing a never-before-seen look at the long-anticipated iPhone-linked infotainment software. British automaker Aston Martin today shared the first video of Apple's CarPlay Ultra experience in-action, followed by a detailed walk-through of the CarPlay Ultra system on Top Gear's YouTube channel, which provides the...
vision pro video recording

WSJ: Some Apple Vision Pro Buyers 'Feel Total Regret'

Friday May 16, 2025 7:43 am PDT by
Apple's Vision Pro headset has left many early adopters expressing dissatisfaction over its weight, limited use cases, and sparse software ecosystem, according to a new article from The Wall Street Journal. In the year following the device's launch, user feedback suggests that it has failed to meet expectations for comfort, software support, and social acceptance. In interviews conducted by T...

Top Rated Comments

syklee26 Avatar
43 months ago
Why would Apple buy ARM? They have secured the license via license agreement so there is no point (and probably a long one with option to opt out).

Better chance of Apple acquiring LEG than ARM.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
opeter Avatar
43 months ago

Ok now what? Is Apple going to buy them? I bet that wouldn't get regulatory approval either.
They (Apple) can't. Noone of the big tech companies can buy ARM.

Anyway, if Nvidia is smart, they will try to look after alternatives for implementation for it's own CPUs and SOCs, like the RISC-V open platform.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NoSoup4U Avatar
43 months ago

Right. Any technology company who possibly be interested in acquiring them would face the same sort of approval issues. It isn't like Coca-Cola is going to throw their hat into the ring.
Coca-Cola! Great idea.

I'd like to teach the world to ARM
In perfect harmony...
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
justperry Avatar
43 months ago
Perfect, it wouldn't be approved anyhow.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
calstanford Avatar
43 months ago
Apple could buy a small stake (say 5% and a board seat to influence some of the development)
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GMShadow Avatar
43 months ago

Apple could buy a small stake (say 5% and a board seat to influence some of the development)
Apple already has an architectural license which allows them to do pretty much whatever they want. There’s no need to reacquire a stake.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)