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SoftBank set to sell UK’s Arm Holdings to Nvidia for $40B

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Re: SoftBank set to sell UK’s Arm Holdings to Nvidia for $40B

#71

Post by zamadatix »

alvern wrote: post #48

This makes sense. Most of the Jetson/Xavier/Nano boards already use a Carmel ARMv8 chip. I just hope this spurs more development in ARMv8. Currently the majority of ARM is ARMv7 (smartphones and Raspi).

I think it's more about having CPU IP more than what CPU IP they have used in Jetson/Xavier to this point (though it is a helping factor). HPC also loves ARM these days and nvidia makes huge cash on that already.

Smartphones have largely been ARMv8 for the last 5 years. Raspberry Pi is as well these days.

Re: SoftBank set to sell UK’s Arm Holdings to Nvidia for $40B

#72

Post by klelatti »

ethbr0 wrote: post #70
klelatti wrote: post #63

On reflection I'm a bit surprised that a consortium hasn't emerged to offer more for Arm given the concerns expressed here: - $40bn isn't a lot in aggregate for the companies that are heavily invested in the Arm ecosystem (Apple, Qualcomm, Amazon etc) - maybe even Intel would take a small stake! - The $40bn is partly in Nvidia's (arguably) inflated stock. Would cash be more attractive? - Could probably partly fund th…

> The $40bn is partly in Nvidia's (arguably) inflated stock. This is SoftBank we're talking about. Do we really want to bring up inflated stock as one of their concerns? ;)

There is bound to be some sort of financial engineering going on too.

Doesn't Son have a stake in Nvidia so maybe this is to help support the Nvidia share price?

Re: SoftBank set to sell UK’s Arm Holdings to Nvidia for $40B

#74

Post by perardi »

SahAssar wrote: post #66
klelatti wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except they owned almost 50% of Arm in the 1990s and were very supportive of their business model.

Back then apple's business was quite different. They licensed their OS, they collaborated on stuff like the pippin, they were not sure if their future was in software or hardware. The apple now is a very different beast.

Yup. That was also the Mac clone era of Apple. There is none of that DNA left.

Re: SoftBank set to sell UK’s Arm Holdings to Nvidia for $40B

#75

Post by baybal2 »

bartread wrote: post #61
BluSyn wrote: post #3

I think this is a very bad and short-sided deal. ARM is in such a great position currently. There's no reason to sell except that SoftBank is in desperate need of capital. On top of that, Nvidia is likely to be a terrible steward of the IP. Nvidia has a terrible track record of working with other companies, partners, and open source developers. ARM has become a de-facto standard in mobile space, and Nvidia will likel…

> Nope, now Nvidia is going to destroy that progress and set everything back another 5+ years. You're blaming Nvidia. You should be blaming SoftBank and Masayoshi Son: bunch of fucking hucksters misleading people and making bad investments. Now they need to sell ARM to fill some of the gaping void that has resulted. They couldn't care less who they sell to and what the outcome of that sale will be. I have nothing but…

> You're blaming Nvidia. You should be blaming SoftBank and Masayoshi Son: bunch of fucking hucksters misleading people and making bad investments.

You shouldn't be blaming bad investors. They pay for their decisions with their, or more often somebody's else, money.

Blame the collective ownership of means of production, which in form of public companies have dominated the Western world for the last 30+ years.

When people think of of selling their business, which is their life's work, as a raison d'etre, something is really messed up with the business culture in that person's coutnry.

Re: SoftBank set to sell UK’s Arm Holdings to Nvidia for $40B

#76

Post by baybal2 »

Animats wrote: post #51
MangoCoffee wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>ARM is in such a great position currently. There's no reason to sell except that SoftBank is in desperate need of capital. Softbank needs cash. sells ARM. not a good reason?

Softbank has to prop up Uber and WeWork with something. I dunno, would you rather have ARM technology owned by a US company or by a front for the Saudi sovereign wealth fund?

> Softbank has to prop up Uber and WeWork with something.

Softbank has a chainsaw prince as a main creditor. This is a very compelling reason to get cash in any way possible.

Re: SoftBank set to sell UK’s Arm Holdings to Nvidia for $40B

#77

Post by klelatti »

01100011 wrote: post #64
jayd16 wrote: post #12

Well... on the bright side I like what Tegras have been able to achieve. The Shields and the Switch are neat machines. Maybe we'll see some more ARM designs that can compete with Apple.

No, everything Nvidia is evil. We're supposed to be hating on them, right? Can I get my upvotes for perpetuating the hive mind now? Seriously. I'm excited to see ARM owned by a hardware centric company. That said, I really don't expect this to have much impact in the near term. Licenses are already in place. China will probably spin competing chips based on their own ISA before too long(5-10 years). I'm frankly inter…

Why would you be excited?

Nvidia can (and do) build their own ARM ISA CPU's offer them in the market so we already have access to Nvidia's take on the architecture. Do they have established expertise in ISA design or microcontrollers?

Maybe I'm missing something?

Re: SoftBank set to sell UK’s Arm Holdings to Nvidia for $40B

#78

Post by cwhiz »

BluSyn wrote: post #3

I think this is a very bad and short-sided deal. ARM is in such a great position currently. There's no reason to sell except that SoftBank is in desperate need of capital. On top of that, Nvidia is likely to be a terrible steward of the IP. Nvidia has a terrible track record of working with other companies, partners, and open source developers. ARM has become a de-facto standard in mobile space, and Nvidia will likel…

It seems a little dramatic to think Nvidia would spend $40 billion just to run ARM into the ground.

Re: SoftBank set to sell UK’s Arm Holdings to Nvidia for $40B

#79

Post by andybak »

pm90 wrote: post #59
gumby wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The theory is that clusters form around “anchor tenants”; Cambridge has the University (and its excellent CS departments), ARM and some others, and is close to he largest capital marketplaces in the world, grandiosely bundled into a so-called “silicon fen”. So school leavers can get jobs, network, start companies, develop other tech in a virtuous circle. Well that’s the theory; nobody has actually been able to reprod…

This is a bit of an aside, but it never ceases to amaze me how many would be tech hubs try variations of Silicon Valley in their (maybe informal?) branding. Silicon hills, Silicon fern.. (I knew a couple more but I’m forgetting atm). It’s not like it’s the name which made it what it is.

Silicon Beach. I live in one that claims the title. I suspect there are many.
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