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Arm and Softbank logos: chip architecture in almost all smartphones
Photo: Neil Hall / REUTERS
The billion-dollar deal to take over the chip designer Arm by the industry giant Nvidia has burst.
According to a joint statement, the resistance from competition watchdogs was too great and the regulatory hurdles too high.
Japanese Arm owner Softbank is now planning an IPO instead.
Chips based on ARM architecture are found in almost all smartphones.
Market watchdogs and competitors had therefore feared that Nvidia could use this to expand its own market position.
The graphics card specialist always rejected this, but still encountered strong opposition.
At the beginning of December, the US government finally filed a lawsuit against the takeover.
The American trade authority FTC argued at the time that the merger could slow down innovations.
Apple uses ARM design in new Macs
Nvidia started buying the British company in September 2020, which was worth around $40 billion at the time.
With the price increase of the Nvidia share, the volume was twice as high in the meantime.
Apple and Samsung, among others, are developing the processors for their smartphones based on the arm designs.
The chip company Qualcomm, whose chips are in many Android phones, also uses it.
The ARM architectures prevailed in smartphones against chip systems from the semiconductor giant Intel, partly because they are significantly more energy-efficient.
Chips based on ARM designs are now also being used in data centers.
Apple also uses them in its new Mac computers.
In view of the planned takeover by Nvidia, however, there has been unrest in the technology industry for some time.
Some ARM customers feared that the American graphics card specialist might have an interest in dovetailing future ARM architectures better with its own products - which would worsen their own competitive position.
Nvidia always rejected such fears.
The Japanese technology group Softbank is now keeping $1.25 billion that Nvidia had already paid.
The IPO is scheduled to take place in Softbank's next fiscal year, which will end at the end of March 2023.
jlk/dpa
