SoftBank strengthens AI strategy by acquiring data center semiconductor company Ampere Computing for approximately 970 billion yen in cash

SoftBank Group Corp. announced on March 20, 2025 that it will acquire semiconductor design company Ampere Computing in a cash transaction valued at $6.5 billion. Subject to closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, Ampere will become a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp. in the second half of 2025.

SoftBank Group to Acquire Ampere Computing | SoftBank Group Corp.
https://group.softbank/news/press/20250320

SoftBank Group to Acquire Ampere Computing
https://amperecomputing.com/press/softbank-group-to-acquire-ampere-computing

Ampere Computing was founded in 2017 by former Intel president Renee James and designs server microprocessors based on the Arm architecture. Ampere Computing processors are used in databases, media encoding, web services, network acceleration, mobile gaming, AI inference processing, and more.

In 2018, the 32-core server processor 'eMAG 8180' manufactured using TSMC's 16FF+ process was released, and in 2020, the 80-core cloud server processor 'Ampere Altra' using the ARM architecture was released.

80-core server processor using ARM is released by former Intel president 'Ampere', performance is comparable to AMD's second generation 'EPYC' - GIGAZINE

Ampere Computing will release the Arm-based server processor 'AmpereOne' for data centers manufactured using the TSMC 5nm + 7nm process in 2023. In addition, in 2024, it will announce the next-generation AmpereOne with 256 cores using 3nm process technology. At the same time, it has partnered with Qualcomm to build an AI inference server equipped with Ampere Computing CPUs and Qualcomm's AI accelerators.

Ampere Computing announces 3nm process '256-core CPU' - GIGAZINE

Meanwhile, SoftBank Group has shown enthusiasm for AI, revealing that it will deploy technology owned by its subsidiary Arm Holdings in a new data center dedicated to training and operating AI.

SoftBank plans to put Arm technology at the heart of its new data center network for training and running AI, putting Arm and NVIDIA in direct conflict - GIGAZINE

In addition, in January 2025, OpenAI and Oracle jointly announced the 'Stargate Project,' a plan to establish multiple large-scale data centers in the United States with a budget of $500 billion (about 75 trillion yen) over four years.

OpenAI and SoftBank announce 'Stargate' project to establish AI data center with investment of over 70 trillion yen - GIGAZINE

The key to establishing a data center is the processors that will be installed in the computers that will run in that data center. SoftBank Group is said to be promoting ' Project Izanagi, ' a project to develop AI semiconductor chips to compete with NVIDIA, but in August 2014, it was reported that discussions with Intel had broken down because the company was unable to meet their requirements.

SoftBank is reportedly in talks with Intel to manufacture AI chips that will compete with NVIDIA, but the talks fell apart due to failure to meet requirements, and SoftBank is currently in negotiations with TSMC - GIGAZINE

There is a very high possibility that Ampere Computing's processors will be adopted for the 'construction of large-scale cloud data centers for AI,' which is essential to SoftBank's AI strategy. Furthermore, if OpenAI and Oracle, which are also participating in the Stargate Project along with the SoftBank Group, also adopt Ampere Computing's processors, it is entirely possible that Ampere Computing will significantly increase its share of the server processor market.

'The future of ASI (artificial superintelligence) requires unprecedented computing power. Ampere's expertise in semiconductors and high-performance computing will help us accelerate the realization of this vision and further strengthen our commitment to AI innovation in the United States,' said Masayoshi Son, Chairman of SoftBank Group.

'We are excited to join SoftBank Group and partner with their leading technology companies on our shared vision for the advancement of AI,' said James, CEO of Ampere Computing. 'This is a great win for our team and we're excited to advance the AmpereOne roadmap for high-performance Arm processors and AI.'