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The FTC is suing to block NVIDIA's acquisition of Arm, thinks deal is anticompetitive

By Kenny Yeo - on 3 Dec 2021, 9:51am

The FTC is suing to block NVIDIA's acquisition of Arm, thinks deal is anticompetitive

NVIDIA's headquarters in Santa Clara. (Image source: Wikipedia)

The US FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has announced that it is suing to block NVIDIA's US$40 billion acquisition of Arm.

FTC Bureau of Competition Director Holly Vedova said:

The FTC is suing to block the largest semiconductor chip merger in history to prevent a chip conglomerate from stifling the innovation pipeline for next-generation technologies.

The FTC is concerned that NVIDIA's acquisition of Arm would give it an unfair advantage in markets such as high-level advanced driver assistance systems, DPU SmartNICs in networking, and cloud computing, where it already uses Arm-based products. 

In addition, the FTC is also worried that by acquiring Arm, NVIDIA would gain access to sensitive information from Arm licensees who compete directly with NVIDIA.

A host of companies currently rely on Arm technologies. Apple's class-leading A-series and M1 chips use Arm technologies, as does Google's Tensor smartphone chip.

NVIDIA, in response, previously said that they would keep Arm's existing open licensing model and that they would not "throttle" or "deny" supply to any customer.

The FTC isn't the only one who is troubled by the deal. The European Union opened a formal investigation into the deal earlier this year in October.

Source: FTC via The Verge

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