Chipmaker Arm gets a helping hand from Nvidia

Arm, the British chip designer, is to be sold to a US peer in a record deal for the industry. The consequences will be far-reaching.

ARM Tegra 2 microprocessor chips © Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(Image credit: © Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Nvidia’s “blockbuster” takeover of UK chip designer Arm is already facing “growing opposition”, says The Daily Telegraph. Japanese technology investor Softbank bought Arm for £24bn in 2016; it now wants to sell it to the US technology company in a record deal for the semiconductor sector.

As soon as the £30bn deal was announced, Arm’s founder Hermann Hauser complained that it would deliver Britain into “American vassalage” by selling its “prime technology asset”. Hauser says a sale to Nvidia would mean “the decision about who Arm is allowed to sell to will be made in the White House”. The British government has pledged to investigate the deal, and China may follow suit.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri