James Martin / CNET
Nvidia, manufacturer of graphics processors, is about to purchase the chip manufacturer Arm from the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank. A transaction is due to be announced next week, Bloomberg reported on Saturday, citing anonymous sources. The deal could value Arm at around $ 40 billion in cash and stocks, Bloomberg said, noting that it could be the biggest deal in the chip industry ever made.
Nvidia declined to comment on the report. SoftBank had no comment and Arm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Acquisition talks could still wear off, and if a deal hits it will likely result in intense regulatory scrutiny, Bloomberg said.
The news agency reported last week that Nvidia and SoftBank were in advanced talks with Nvidia, the only potential buyer. This followed an earlier report in the Wall Street Journal that SoftBank was considering selling Arm. The journal also covered Saturday's news of an upcoming Nvidia-SoftBank deal.
Continue reading: Apple is giving Macs a brain transplant with new arm chips starting this year
In June, Apple announced it would be overhauling its Mac computers with arm chips similar to those for iPhones and iPads, and moving away from the Intel processors that have been used for the past 14 years. Arm licenses its chip instruction set - the collection of commands software can use to control a chip - to companies like Apple that develop their own processors.
SoftBank has bought Arm based in the UK four years ago for nearly $ 32 billion.
CNET's Sean Keane contributed to this report. Source link
