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Proposed acquisition of ARM Limited by NVIDIA: public interest intervention

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Re: Proposed acquisition of ARM Limited by NVIDIA: public interest intervention

#111

Post by CalChris »

foobarian wrote: post #105
zepto wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if ARM was this awesome design shop owning essentially all mobile chipsets and then some, why did they need the money? Were they going broke? It’s not the company that gets the money - it’s the owners. This transaction is about SoftBank’s balance sheet, not ARMs.

I was thinking more about the original sale. It's looking like it was just the board seeing dollar signs, coupled with a promise of a huge workforce expansion. [1] https://www.borntoengineer.com/britains-successful-technolog...

Moreover, if the UK had a strategic leverage objection why didn't they register that objection at that original sale to Softbank?

Re: Proposed acquisition of ARM Limited by NVIDIA: public interest intervention

#112

Post by jonplackett »

bregma wrote: post #104
marktangotango wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> these companies will simply hollow ARM out (slash R&D, cut staff etc) to pump up the target’s value, before flogging it off or breaking it up. What does "flogging it off" mean in this context?

It's a malapropism for "fobbed off", which means to trick someone into buying something of inferior quality or value.

Don’t think that’s right. Flogging something means to sell it, usually in a careless kind of manner.

Re: Proposed acquisition of ARM Limited by NVIDIA: public interest intervention

#113

Post by zepto »

CalChris wrote: post #111
foobarian wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking more about the original sale. It's looking like it was just the board seeing dollar signs, coupled with a promise of a huge workforce expansion. [1] https://www.borntoengineer.com/britains-successful-technolog...

Moreover, if the UK had a strategic leverage objection why didn't they register that objection at that original sale to Softbank?

Could it be that geopolitics has changed their position since then?

Re: Proposed acquisition of ARM Limited by NVIDIA: public interest intervention

#114

Post by trasz »

the_duke wrote: post #35
mrweasel wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand objecting, but for security reasons? A better argument would be that Nvidia gains serious power over companies who are currently ARM customer and Nvidia competitors. Perhaps the UK want to be able to use ARM designs for domestic chips in the future, without being dependent on an American company, but yeah, then they should have objected when a Japanese company bought ARM as well.

I'm not familiar with the concrete law, but monopoly/market based rejections could probably be disputed and result in lengthy proceedings. Not so if you swing the national security hammer. Also, as others have noted, it's quite possible that GHCQ has backdoors into ARM designs that would be jeopardized. But despite being owned by Softbank, Arm Ltd. is still incorporated in the UK and has their headquarters there. If…

Or perhaps doesn’t have backdoors, and would prefer it stays that way, which could be jeopardized by US owners - see the Intel Management Engine.

Re: Proposed acquisition of ARM Limited by NVIDIA: public interest intervention

#115

Post by seniorivn »

finikytou wrote: post #102

ARM is a strategic company and unique in europe. it is UK crown jewel. Selling it to Nvidia is like USA selling Google to Huawei.

you should've used european company instead of huawei, with huawei you turn it into political and even ideological debate

Re: Proposed acquisition of ARM Limited by NVIDIA: public interest intervention

#116

Post by skywal_l »

bencollier49 wrote: post #2

They blatantly ought to have done this for the original sale. Better late than never, I suppose.

But what are the consequences exactly? The deal will be stopped and ARM still belongs to a foreign company. Why not follow this to its logical conclusion and nationalize ARM if it is so important?

You can't prevent someone to sell something if it doesn't want to keep it.

Re: Proposed acquisition of ARM Limited by NVIDIA: public interest intervention

#117

Post by foobarian »

CalChris wrote: post #111
foobarian wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking more about the original sale. It's looking like it was just the board seeing dollar signs, coupled with a promise of a huge workforce expansion. [1] https://www.borntoengineer.com/britains-successful-technolog...

Moreover, if the UK had a strategic leverage objection why didn't they register that objection at that original sale to Softbank?

I'm no politician but that promise to double the local workforce in Cambridge definitely caught my eye as something that would play really well in that arena. Kind of like how the Foxconn plant got built in the United States.

Re: Proposed acquisition of ARM Limited by NVIDIA: public interest intervention

#118

Post by CalChris »

This objection should have been raised for the original sale. However, the owners then made bank on that sale and those owners also presumably had better political leverage then. Read that as Brits sell crown jewels for coin to foreigners. Foreigners re-sell crown jewels but UK discovers public interest and raises objection to crown jewels being sold. It's a bit late.

Re: Proposed acquisition of ARM Limited by NVIDIA: public interest intervention

#119

Post by wAYshzRtw »

bserge wrote: post #62
wAYshzRtw wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the nature of this acquisition is completely different. SoftBank left Arm mostly alone; i.e. brand survived, all offices survived, etc. If this deal goes through, Arm will get fully integrated into Nvidia. There won't be an "Arm" anymore.

Is that how it would be? So, like AMD and ATi? Damn, that's kind of sad.

Yes, that's the plan.

Re: Proposed acquisition of ARM Limited by NVIDIA: public interest intervention

#120

Post by fauigerzigerk »

pydry wrote: post #79
mrweasel wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand objecting, but for security reasons? A better argument would be that Nvidia gains serious power over companies who are currently ARM customer and Nvidia competitors. Perhaps the UK want to be able to use ARM designs for domestic chips in the future, without being dependent on an American company, but yeah, then they should have objected when a Japanese company bought ARM as well.

Security objections are a WTO get out of jail free card for countries looking to engage in protectionism.

That's true, but I think what the UK government is trying to do here is to get guarantees from Nvidia regarding the future of ARM operations in the UK.

If Nvidia were to relocate the brainiest parts of ARM to the US then the UK would lose a skillset that is arguably relevant for national security.

So I don't think this intervention is a definitive no to the acquisition. Rather, it appears to be a way of entering into negotiations.

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