Rumor: NVIDIA is interested in purchasing ARM (updated)
Nvidia is said to be interested in obtaining chip designer Arm. That is what sources involved in this say to financial news agency Bloomberg. Last week it was revealed that SoftBank, the current owner of Arm, would be considering a sale.
Nvidia has, according to Bloomberg sources, approached Arm in recent weeks about a possible acquisition. According to the sources, other bidders could emerge, but details are not yet known. Four years ago ARM was acquired by Softbank for a sum of 29 billion euros, and since then the value raised. Nvidia may have the means to acquire ARM after having recently been listed higher than Intel, but whether Nvidia's interest will eventually lead to a deal with SoftBank remains to be seen. Should it come to this, it would be the largest takeover in the history of the chip industry. A takeover of Arm will be watched by numerous authorities as many companies depend on its technology. An acquisition of Arm by Nvidia will mean a shift in the market and increase Nvidia's chances of growing in different markets.
Updated: Bloomberg now reports that NVIDIA is in advanced talks:
-- Bloomberg --
Nvidia Corp. is in advanced talks to acquire Arm Ltd., the chip designer that SoftBank Group Corp. bought for $32 billion four years ago, according to people familiar with the matter.
The two parties aim to reach a deal in the next few weeks, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Nvidia is the only suitor in concrete discussions with SoftBank, according to the people.
A deal for Arm could be the largest ever in the semiconductor industry, which has been consolidating in recent years as companies seek to diversify and add scale. Cambridge, England-based Arm’s technology underpins chips in products including Apple Inc. devices and connected appliances.
No final decisions have been made, and the negotiations could drag on longer or fall apart, the people said. SoftBank may gauge interest from other suitors if it can’t reach an agreement with Nvidia, the people said. Representatives for Nvidia, SoftBank and Arm declined to comment.
Any deal with Nvidia, which is a customer of Arm, would likely trigger regulatory scrutiny as well as a wave of opposition from other users of the company’s technology. Other Arm clients could demand assurances that a new owner would continue providing equal access to Arm’s instruction set. Such concerns resulted in SoftBank, a neutral company, buying Arm the last time it was for sale.
A deal for Arm could become the biggest-ever acquisition in the chip industry, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Arm is owned by SoftBank and its $100 billion Vision Fund. The Japanese group bought Arm, which at the time was the U.K.’s largest listed technology company, for about $32 billion in 2016.
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It's possible they could be in "talks", but like HH says, that means nothing at all. nVidia could be trying to steal it; Softbank could be trying to rob nVidia...

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I very much doubt that something as basic as this flies over the heads of EU overlords.
Why would EU want to bet their houses during schizo moment US/China are going through. Let them deal with it.
Being as ARM is already owned by Softbank who are Japanese I can't see that being an issue.
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fully aware. dunno what everyone saying ARM IS UK is on about..
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Why they would need to use InfiniBand which is an internode (to connect computers) communication protocol when they have NVLink that is a intranode (to connect processors) protocol?
Most of the Supercomputers already have HUGE InfiniBand switches.. Supercomputers are not one huge MB where you can plug in more and more GPU's.. connecting nodes is, or being able to replace 'legacy nodes' is where compatibility is important.. and where the big bucks are.
*on second thoughts.., if you're asking "why not use NVlink to connect nodes" then I doubt NVlink can sustain its speed over a 3-5M cable, but maybe it can/will now Nvidia own Infiniband. Also Infiniband transmits much more than just GPU traffic.. again maybe even more now Nvidia own the IP.
Why? what debacles?
They are in the NINTENDO Switch and the X360 had an AMD's GPU, the real reason AMD won in both consoles is that they offered prices so low to be virtually unprofitable for them with the purpose of pushing NVIDIA out of that market (which is a nice one since there is no competition at all), consider that despite the PS4 alone sold more than 100M unit they almost gone bankrupt and they had to sell their headquarter building to survive...
To be fair Nvidia didn't play nice with the GPU in the Original xBox and when Sony came begging for a GPU for the PS3 after their internal development didn't turn out..
AMD got kudo's for delivering what 'price-conscious' customers wanted... but who can blame Nvidia asking to be paid for the crazy money they spent, creating and pushing the GPU world forward?
Rumour has it nvidia wanted a win in the console world no matter what the cost.. so that's why we have been gifted a great console in the form of the 'switch'

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Why Nvidia’s potential acquisition of ARM would be such a game-changer
July 31, 2020
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Unlike Nvidia, AMD, and Intel, ARM doesn’t sell a packaged processor. Instead, the company operates on what it calls a “flexible licensing model.” Each licensee can license the processor design and have the freedom to customize the architecture to fit its own specifications. Typically, licensees pay an up-front fee to license the architecture, and ARM also earns revenue through on-going royalty payments. It seems likely that this model would survive under Nvidia or any other possible buyer’s ownership.
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The “flexible licensing model” is also complementary to Nvidia’s own graphics business. Having already been a licensee of ARM with its Tegra processors (found on products such as Nvidia’s Shield TV streaming box and the now-defunct Microsoft Surface RT), more licensing opportunities could open up if Nvidia acquires ARM.
ARM currently licenses its Mali graphics core on its CPU architecture, but licensees — like Apple, MediaTek, Qualcomm, and Samsung — have the option of using their own custom integrated GPU design. Nvidia could either replace the Mali’s graphics core and license out its integrated GeForce GPU in a packaged solution for licensees, or it could continue to offer the Mali design and reserve the GeForce cores for its own custom Tegra processors.
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At present, most PCs are locked into the x86 architecture used by Intel and AMD. However, the future outlook is bright for ARM. Despite a failed foray into ARM PCs with the Surface RT, Microsoft is making headwinds with its second effort with partner Qualcomm and its ARM-based Snapdragon 8cx processor. Promising better battery life, consistent performance, and thin and light designs, notebooks and convertibles running on the Always Connected PC platform offer many advantages over its Intel rival, including mobile connectivity and all-day computing power. Microsoft’s Surface Pro X tablet is also based on a semi-custom ARM processor co-developed with Qualcomm, though we can see designs from Samsung, Lenovo, and others.
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Nvidia also isn’t the first large company to be interested in acquiring ARM. Apple was actually originally rumored to be in talks with ARM earlier this year. It fell through, reportedly because a tie-up wouldn’t fit Apple’s business ambitions.
Softbank last purchased ARM four years ago at the cost of $32 billion, but it’s unclear how much Nvidia is willing to pay to acquire the firm. If the deal fails, Bloomberg reported that Softbank may proceed with taking ARM through a public stock listing, and an IPO could value the company at $44 billion.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/nvidia-acquisition-of-arm-game-changer/