Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is reportedly close to selling off its British chip designer Arm to chipmaker Nvidia for a whopping US$40 billion, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal.
UK-headquartered Arm is not a chipmaker, but licenses its chip designs to different customers, including Apple, Samsung, and Intel. Its chip architecture is widely used in mobile and, per VentureBeat, its licensees ship billions of chips for everything, including phones, tablets, and internet-of-things sensors.
Meanwhile, US$89 billion Nvidia is best known for its graphics chips, but has expanded into other areas, including artificial intelligence. Arm and Nvidia have been in exclusive talks for several weeks and a deal could be sealed early next week, the people said—assuming it isn’t derailed at the last minute.
Arm designs microprocessors that power most of the world’s smartphones. By joining forces with Nvidia, the combined company would be a powerhouse in the chip industry.
Full Content: Wall Street Journal
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