EU Commission Conducts Competition-Investigation into Nvidia-Arm Acquisition Deal

A post-Brexit competition-investigation has been started by the EU Commission to look into Nvidia’s $40 billion acquisition of Arm, a UK chip-design company. The acquisition was announced last September but regulators are worried that an Nvidia takeover of the chip-design corporation would limit access to the company’s technology. After all, Arm Ltd. provides its chip-technology to most of the world’s smartphones.

Still, the US tech giant, gives its guarantees that it will keep the Arm company’s open-licensing model. Moreover, Nvidia’s plans with Arm include expanding research and development in the UK. They plan to do so by constructing an AI supercomputer powered by their combined technology for conducting innovative research, and instituting an education center focused on developing world-class AI research.

Concerns Raised by EU Regulators over the Nvidia-Arms Acquisition Deal

Although EU officials mentioned that Nvidia offered compromises as a way to remove their concerts, they still have doubts on the deal. They are still concerned that it can result to reduced innovations, fewer options and higher prices for end-user consumers.

Margrethe Vestager, EU Commissioner for Competition, explained that their own analysis revealed that Nvidia’s total control of Arm could result to diminished or restricted access to the latter’s Intellectual property (IP). If so, this could cause warped effects in a lot of markets, particularly where semiconductors are utilized.

Regulators from various parts of the world are also looking into this deal and have voiced concerns that the chip-design company’s selling point is their position as a neutral vendor. A takeover by the US-based Nvidia could compromise the semiconductor industry