Federal Trade Council The Commission filed a lawsuit to prevent Nvidia from acquiring Arm, a semiconductor manufacturer, claiming that a blockbuster deal could prevent unfair competition.
“The FTC is appealing to prevent a major semiconductor chip in history to prevent the chip conglomerate from disrupting the next generation of technical technology,” Holly Vedova, FTC’s chief competition officer, said in a statement. “Tomorrow’s technology relies on keeping the most successful and prosperous modern markets. The proposed deal could undermine Arm’s stronghold in the chip markets and allow the consolidated company to unfairly harm Nvidia’s competitors. “
Nvidia first he announced its purpose is to find Hand in September 2020. the deal was worth $ 40 billion, but since then, Arm’s value has skyrocketed, and the value of money and property has grown to $ 75 billion. The FTC case threatens to end the entire deal.
“As we move to the next step in the FTC process, we will continue to demonstrate that the project will benefit companies and promote competition,” a Nvidia spokesman told Ars. “Nvidia is committed to maintaining Arm’s open source license and ensuring that its IP is accessible to all licensed, current and future.”
The FTC Price is not the first government official to properly review the agreement. In October, the European Union announced it was investigating the purchase, and last month UK officials he said he was concerned that the combination would threaten competition and national security. Chinese authorities are also looking into the deal, Nvidia said.
Many of the frustrations of the acquisition stem from the fact that, throughout its history, Arm has been politically neutral in the semiconductor world, offering the opportunity to gain its wisdom for anyone who wants to pay a fine. In a lawsuit, the FTC named Arm “Switzerland” a semiconductor company. Customers fear that the Nvidia-controlled Arm would put them at risk of competition, right directors is concerned that the purchase threatens to undermine the large and prosperous ecosystem that depends on its design.
Arm started as a niche semiconductor manufacturer, with limited power chips integrated mechanical devices like Apple Newton and Palm Pilot. Over the years, as the efficiency of ARM chips increased and demand for electrical power increased, semiconductors found a way to connect more devices.
Nowadays, Arm designs and instructions are widely used, appearing in everything from mobile phones to servers, car airbag controllers, and high-end computers. Recently, ARM chips have started to enter the PC world, boosting Intel and AMD pressure. Apple M1 chips showed how the design would be in competition with the x86 design, and some are starting to follow. Earlier this week, Qualcomm announced a new Snapdragon processor, called 8cx Gen 3, that will run the ARM version of Windows.
Because ARM architecture is minimal and available to many different companies, chips have taken over the job. Last year, companies sold 25 billion ARM chips, more than four times since 2010.
Nvidia has also become the most powerful player in the world of semiconductor. His graphics cards became a valuable tool for learning mechanical and mechanical engineering, and soon the company began selling translucent chips. high-performance computers. Its Tegra-chip chips, which allow for Arm design, were used in mobile phones and Tesla infotainment system during the 2010s, and today they run inside Nintendo’s Switch.