The US Federal Trade Commission has launched an in-depth investigation into Nvidia’s proposed acquisition of SoftBank’s computer chip design arm Arm, which puts it at the forefront of a series of investigations expected around the world into a broad-based agreement consequences. across the technology industry.
The agency has made requests for comments to companies that have already filed complaints or that may be affected by the agreement, according to two people familiar with the move. European and British regulators are preparing for their own investigation, and executives involved in the deal also see China as a potential threat.
According to a person familiar with the review, Qualcomm, the leading manufacturer of mobile communication chips, is among the companies that have already indicated their unhappiness to regulators. The deal has also raised concerns with many of Arm’s other customers in the five months since its announcement.
Arm’s designs for low power chips are used as the basis for the processors in most smartphones. Nvidia said it wanted to buy the company primarily to further expand the use of its designs to data centers, where the demands of artificial intelligence and cloud computing have led to the need for more energy-efficient processors.
This may have put Nvidia on a collision course with some of the biggest technology companies, buying large quantities of chips for data centers. Some, including Amazon, have also started designing their own arm-based processors.
According to an official from one company that embarked on the deal, Nvidia will be able to benefit its own data center business at the expense of other companies that also use Arm’s designs.
Another complained that Nvidia would gain access to sensitive data about its competitors as these companies share their future product plans with Arm to improve the company’s design.
Nvidia declined to comment on whether the FTC had been contacted, but said it was “confident that regulators and customers will see the benefits of our plan to continue Arm’s open licensing model and a transparent, ensure a cooperative relationship with Arm’s licensees “.