NVIDIA's acquisition of semiconductor design / Arm is a 'very bad idea'

It was reported that SoftBank Group is continuing talks with NVIDIA, which manufactures graphic cards, about the sale of its semiconductor design company, Arm.

https://www.androidcentral.com/nvidia-buying-arm-really-bad-idea-buying-arm-really-bad-idea

On July 14, 2020, it was reported that SoftBank Group is considering selling Arm, which is under its control.

Softbank considers selling Arm-GIGAZINE

by MIKI Yoshihito

Bloomberg reported that Apple, which had been rumored to be interested in acquiring Arm, was not interested in the acquisition, and NVIDIA was interested in the acquisition.

News that Apple has no intention of acquiring Arm-GIGAZINE

' We're in talks about an acquisition between NVIDIA and SoftBank Group, and may reach agreement in the next few weeks,' Bloomberg reports .

NVIDIA develops graphics cards that are strong enough to lead the game industry on their own. NVIDIA graphic cards are used not only in gaming PCs, but also in servers for machine learning, self-driving cars, robots, and Android TVs. NVIDIA manufactures not only a graphics card but also a very good ARM architecture- based chip that combines a high-speed CPU and GPU for computing, one of which is ' Jetson Xavier NX ' purchased at the time of article creation It's one of the most powerful ARM-based chips possible.

The problem with NVIDIA's acquisition of Arm is that it licenses ARM architecture to multiple companies, Android Central said. The ARM architecture is widely used not only for smartphones such as Android terminals and iPhones, but also for millions of servers, single board computers such as Raspberry Pi, and chips for IoT devices such as Google Nest Mini.

Since Arm licenses ARM architecture to many companies, it is safe to say that US and UK regulators will require 'continuation of licensing' to be a condition for acquisition under antitrust law. However, companies that manufacture ARM architecture-based chips, including NVIDIA, want future ARM architecture designs to benefit their development. So if the ARM architecture design puts NVIDIA's chip development at the forefront, it could hinder all the innovations brought by companies such as Qualcomm and Samsung, which would stagnate the entire industry. That's what Android Central points out.

'Regulators must not allow NVIDIA to buy Arm,' said Android Central, citing 'a chip-neutral, non-chip company' as the most ideal company to buy Arm.

'NVIDIA needs to continue to develop great graphics cards and legendary Android TV devices , but don't get involved in designing the ARM architecture that many technology companies around the world rely on,' Android Central wrote. ..