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SoftBank's Sale of Arm to Nvidia Collapses, Arm to IPO

reuters.com

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Re: SoftBank's Sale of Arm to Nvidia Collapses, Arm to IPO

#151

Post by perfopt »

jakey_bakey wrote: post #66
BluSyn wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SoftBank is desperate for capital due to recent bad bets. ARM is one of the most valuable assets they have. As for ARM itself, this probably isn't the best path forward, and neither option would even be considered if it weren't for SoftBank's current predicament.

It's weird, according to the FT they only want the capital to finance share buybacks. So, basically, they want to prop up their share price.

You are right. They want to buy back shares. But it is also true that some of their bets like Didi and Wework did not do well. Also, they have money invested in China which seems stuck (just like many others I suppose).

Re: SoftBank's Sale of Arm to Nvidia Collapses, Arm to IPO

#152

Post by tjoff »

perfopt wrote: post #148
tjoff wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing that stands out about ARM is that the user has less control of the hardware. The manufacturers try and succeed in keeping an extremely closed ecosystem. Why would you want that? The Intel+AMD duopoly seems like nirvana compared to the Ampere and M1. In fact, Ampere and M1 are a hint of the most dystopian future of computing I can imagine.

This has nothing to do with ARM. Unlike the PC there is no standard for system architecture (including boards). ARM based designers like Qualcomm, NVIDIA etc can choose to have their own board and system architecture. For example, they can boot of any memory location or lock the user out of using an exception level like EL3/EL2 etc. That is why the ecosystem looks closed. Nothing stops a SoC designer from giving comp…

... and as long as that remains true it is the most user hostile general purpose platforms we've come up with.

It should not be celebrated. Or we will fix the mistake that is the PC forever.

Re: SoftBank's Sale of Arm to Nvidia Collapses, Arm to IPO

#153

Post by xattt »

raywu wrote: post #123
ignoramous wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Provided the ARM juggernaut is expected to streamroll Intel's business in the coming decade, this acquisition does make sense for Intel... this could be their Facebook+WhatsApp moment.

If Nvidia gets torpedoed by regulators, it’s hard to see how Intel stands a chance

Intel has significant experience in managing cross-license agreements (see x86, x64).

This is getting into fantasy chip designer territory, but what are the chances that Intel makes a hybrid x86-ARM chip?

Re: SoftBank's Sale of Arm to Nvidia Collapses, Arm to IPO

#154

Post by monocasa »

mmastrac wrote: post #149
klelatti wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RISC-V seems to me to have two major opportunities. - Where a free ISA allows innovation and experimentation in a way that Arm would not permit. - Where companies can shave cents off mass market products due to lower licensing fees. Will RISC-V replace Arm in your smartphone though - seems like a big ask at the moment.

Google maintains two parallel Android platforms right now, so the idea of porting everything over to a third is not _too_ far off. There's a lot of effort in getting JIT up-to-speed on RISC, but most everything else is a recompile away.

And JIT can come in later. But definition it's making runtime decisions on code generation, so being supported by optional extensions isn't the end of the world.

Re: SoftBank's Sale of Arm to Nvidia Collapses, Arm to IPO

#155

Post by klelatti »

mmastrac wrote: post #149
klelatti wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RISC-V seems to me to have two major opportunities. - Where a free ISA allows innovation and experimentation in a way that Arm would not permit. - Where companies can shave cents off mass market products due to lower licensing fees. Will RISC-V replace Arm in your smartphone though - seems like a big ask at the moment.

Google maintains two parallel Android platforms right now, so the idea of porting everything over to a third is not _too_ far off. There's a lot of effort in getting JIT up-to-speed on RISC, but most everything else is a recompile away.

I’m old enough to remember Intel throwing billions at getting x86 into smartphones.

Just because there is a port available doesn’t mean the hardware and ecosystem will follow.

Re: SoftBank's Sale of Arm to Nvidia Collapses, Arm to IPO

#157

Post by [deleted] »

honkdaddy wrote: post #131
ksec wrote: post #64

It sort of make sense for Nvidia's shareholders. The initial offering for ARM was only worth $38.5bn, which was already expensive due to SoftBank initial purchase price and not wanting for a loss. But at Nvidia's peak this deal was worth " $87bn ". For a company that makes less than $2B in revenue and at best ~$300M in Operating Income. Remember this isn't something you can buy and milk the crap out of other market p…

If you don't mind me asking, where do you keep your wealth then? Property? Commodities?

[deleted]

Re: SoftBank's Sale of Arm to Nvidia Collapses, Arm to IPO

#159

Post by chasil »

pm90 wrote: post #129
lrem wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if that control becomes too tight, RISC-V takes it place.

Let’s be real. ARM got a chance because it excelled in a very specific use case: low power. Unless RISC-V differentiates itself in a significant way, it won’t replace ARM.

ARM also addressed code density with Thumb, which required licensing Super-H IP.

Then AArch64 was designed very late, but seems sufficient to have (currently) taken the prize for the top supercomputing architecture.

There is architectural flexibility here, in addition to low power.

Re: SoftBank's Sale of Arm to Nvidia Collapses, Arm to IPO

#160

Post by gjsman-1000 »

samwillis wrote: post #117
ksec wrote: post #64

It sort of make sense for Nvidia's shareholders. The initial offering for ARM was only worth $38.5bn, which was already expensive due to SoftBank initial purchase price and not wanting for a loss. But at Nvidia's peak this deal was worth " $87bn ". For a company that makes less than $2B in revenue and at best ~$300M in Operating Income. Remember this isn't something you can buy and milk the crap out of other market p…

Wanted to see where your brilliant phrase "Riscy Silver Bullet" was from so had a google, I think you are trying to start a trend ;-) > ksec 67 days ago > The unwritten rule of HN: > You do not criticise The Rusted Holy Grail and the Riscy Silver Bullet. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29422032

Those RISC-V supporters are so annoying. They never seem to understand the difference between an open-source instruction set, versus an open-source chip which anyone can synthesize, versus closed-source drivers for an open-source instruction set which contains closed-source additional instructions.

RISC-V literally has no "openness" advantage over ARM other than that there's no licensing fee. Apple could make a RISC-V chip and use it in their iPhones and it would be just as locked down as their ARM chips.

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