Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Friday October 08 2021, @12:43PM   Printer-friendly
from the trying-to-get-a-leg-up dept.

Nvidia Offers Concessions in EU as Arm Deal Probe Extended

The European Commission (EC) this week extended its probe of Nvidia's proposed acquisition of Arm until at least October 27 and said that Nvidia offered the EU certain concessions to[sic] in a bid to persuade the bloc's antimonopoly regulators to approve the deal. Experts say that the EU regulatory review will take considerably longer.

In a bid to make regulators approve the deal to acquire Arm, Nvidia is eager to offer various incentives to respective countries or blocs. In the U.K., the company proposed to invest 'at least' $100 million in the country's most powerful supercomputer. The EC said that it had received concessions proposal from Nvidia as well, but did not elaborate, reports Bloomberg.

Now that the probe is formally extended to October 27, the EU competition authority will request opinion from competitors and clients before determining whether to accept Nvidia's concessions, demand more or initiate a four-month long investigation, reports Reuters. Bloomberg believes that the probe will be extended further, which will give the EC some additional time to seek feedback from interested parties and figure out what it might get from Nvidia.

Also at Notebookcheck.

Previously: Nvidia-Branded ARM CPUs; UK Trade Union Speaks Out Against Deal
Nvidia's $40 Billion ARM Acquisition: "All but Dead"?

Related: Arm Officially Supports Panfrost Open-Source Mali GPU Driver Development


Original Submission

Related Stories

Nvidia-Branded ARM CPUs; UK Trade Union Speaks Out Against Deal 9 comments

Jensen Huang Says Nvidia-Branded ARM CPUs Are a Possibility

According to comments from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during a conference call yesterday, we could see Nvidia-branded CPUs in the future, setting the stage for a new level of competition with Intel and AMD.

[...] However, during yesterday's briefing, Timothy Prickett Morgan from TheNextPlatform asked Jensen Huang, "Will you actually take an implementation of something like Neoverse first and make an Nvidia-branded CPU to drive it into the data center? Will you actually make the reference chip for those who just want it and actually help them run it?"

"Well, the first of all you've made an amazing observation, which is all three options are possible," Huang responded, "[...] So now with our backing and Arm's serious backing, the world can stand on that foundation and realize that they can build server CPUs. Now, some people would like to license the cores and build a CPU themselves. Some people may decide to license the cores and ask us to build those CPUs or modify ours."

"It is not possible for one company to build every single version of them," Huang continued, "but we will have the entire network of partners around Arm that can take the architectures we come up with and depending on what's best for them, whether licensing the core, having a semi-custom chip made, or having a chip that we made, any of those any of those options are available. Any of those options are available, we're open for business and we would like the ecosystem to be as rich as possible, with as many options as possible."

Arm Officially Supports Panfrost Open-Source Mali GPU Driver Development 7 comments

Arm Officially Supports Panfrost Open-Source Mali GPU Driver Development

Most GPU drivers found in Arm processors are known to be closed-source making it difficult and time-consuming to fix some of the bugs since everybody needs to rely on the silicon vendor to fix those for them, and they may even decide a particular bug is not important to them, so you'd be out of luck.

So the developer community has long tried to reverse-engineer GPU drivers with projects like Freedreno (Qualcomm Adreno), Etnaviv (Vivante), as well as Lima and Panfrost for Arm Mali GPUs. Several years ago, Arm management was not interested at all collaborating with open-source GPU driver development for Mali GPUs, but as noted by Phoronix, Alyssa Rosenzweig, a graphics software engineer employed by Collabora, explained Panfrost development was now done in partnership with Arm during a talk at the annual X.Org Developers' Conference (XDC 2020).

[...] So that means a stable Panfrost driver should be expected quite earlier, and possibly with higher quality, than if the company still had to spend time and resources on reverse-engineering.

Related: Pagamigo: FOSS Python Script for PayPal Payments (Alyssa Rosenzweig)
Nvidia Announces $40 Billion Acquisition of Arm Holdings
Nvidia-Branded ARM CPUs; UK Trade Union Speaks Out Against Deal


Original Submission

Nvidia's $40 Billion ARM Acquisition: "All but Dead"? 18 comments

Nvidia's US$40 billion deal to buy Arm is all but dead – it's a classic example of geopolitics killing innovation

Under normal circumstances, US tech giant Nvidia's takeover of British chip designer Arm for US$40 billion (£29 billion) would have sailed through without registering beyond the computing industry. Instead, it has made international headlines, with UK and EU monopolies regulators launching an in-depth investigation after outcry from competitors.

In effect, the deal is pretty much dead before it starts. At the heart of this lies a row about technological sovereignty. So what is going on?

[...] The biggest pushback, behind the scenes, actually appears to be from China. Ever since the US blacklisted Huawei and other semiconductor manufacturers in China, Beijing has been obsessed with becoming technically "self-sufficient".

While it works towards this goal, Arm has continued to license its chip architectures to Huawei. Arm claims that its chip technology is of British origin and therefore does not breach the US restrictions on exporting tech to a group of blacklisted Chinese companies. Thanks to this ongoing arrangement, Arm is one of the remaining enablers for China's semiconductor sector to keep pace with the outside world.

See also: ANALYSIS-Nvidia acquisition of Arm throws company into tech spat between U.S. and China

Previously: Nvidia Announces $40 Billion Acquisition of Arm Holdings
Nvidia-Branded ARM CPUs; UK Trade Union Speaks Out Against Deal


Original Submission

U.S. Federal Trade Commission Sues to Block Nvidia's Arm Acquisition 10 comments

FTC Crashes NVIDIA's Party by Suing to Block its $40 Billion Deal To Acquire Arm Holdings

NVIDIA is now facing the most stringent test yet to its planned acquisition of the chip designer Arm Holdings.

To wit, the US FTC is now suing NVIDIA to block the $40 billion deal. FTC Bureau of Competition Director, Holly Vedova, said in a statement:

"The FTC is suing to block the largest semiconductor chip merger in history to prevent a chip conglomerate from stifling the innovation pipeline for next-generation technologies."

Vedova went on to note:

"Tomorrow's technologies depend on preserving today's competitive, cutting-edge chip markets. This proposed deal would distort Arm's incentives in chip markets and allow the combined firm to unfairly undermine Nvidia's rivals."

FTC press release.

Also at NYT, The Verge, and Reuters.

Previously;
Nvidia's $40 Billion ARM Acquisition: "All but Dead"?
European Commission Extends Probe of Nvidia's Arm Acquisition


Original Submission

Nvidia Prepares to Abandon Arm Acquisition, Will Pay $1.25 Billion Breakup Fee 17 comments

NVIDIA to drop its bid for ARM acquisition

NVIDIA faced strong opposition from regulatory bodies in their bid to purchase ARM Holdings, a British company owning the IP of its RISC (reduced instruction set computer) architectures. After numerous attempts to convince the market and governments that could oppose such a transaction, NVIDIA has allegedly given up the plans, which means that it will have to mark a $1.25 billion loss, money that should be considered a breakup fee.

NVIDIA's original plan was to pay 40 billion USD for the company. However, the US chipmaker no longer expects this transaction to close.

Also at Bloomberg and Wccftech.

Previously:

Nvidia Considering Acquisition of ARM for Over $32 Billion
Nvidia Announces $40 Billion Acquisition of Arm Holdings
Nvidia-Branded ARM CPUs; UK Trade Union Speaks Out Against Deal
Nvidia's $40 Billion ARM Acquisition: "All but Dead"?
European Commission Extends Probe of Nvidia's Arm Acquisition
Nvidia Reveals FTC has Expressed Concerns Over $40 Billion Arm Deal
U.S. Federal Trade Commission Sues to Block Nvidia's Arm Acquisition


Original Submission

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by martyb on Friday October 08 2021, @01:00PM (2 children)

    by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Friday October 08 2021, @01:00PM (#1185511) Journal

    Who remembers its name history?

    Think before you click.

    Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]:

    The acronym ARM was first used in 1983 and originally stood for "Acorn RISC Machine". Acorn Computers' first RISC processor was used in the original Acorn Archimedes and was one of the first RISC processors used in small computers. However, when the company was incorporated in 1990, what 'ARM' stood for changed to "Advanced RISC Machines", in light of the company's name "Advanced RISC Machines Ltd." – and according to an interview with Steve Furber the name change was also at the behest of Apple, which did not wish to have the name of a former competitor – namely Acorn – in the name of the company. At the time of the IPO in 1998, the company name was changed to "ARM Holdings", often just called ARM like the processors.

    On 1 August 2017, the styling and logo were changed. The logo is now all lowercase ('arm') and other uses of the name are in sentence case ('Arm') except where the whole sentence is upper case, so, for instance, it became 'Arm Holdings', and since only Arm Ltd.

    --
    Wit is intellect, dancing.
    • (Score: 2) by kazzie on Friday October 08 2021, @02:23PM

      by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Friday October 08 2021, @02:23PM (#1185530)

      I did, but then I've got a few ARM2 machines at home, so I ought to know.

      (No ARM1s though: they're a bit to scarce and pricey.)

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 09 2021, @02:38AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 09 2021, @02:38AM (#1185690)

      ARM stands for Amalgamation of Regional Militia. Gil said so.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by seeprime on Friday October 08 2021, @01:05PM (3 children)

    by seeprime (5580) on Friday October 08 2021, @01:05PM (#1185512)

    Why are they negotiating for concessions of free stuff? This is corruption in action. The commission is to decide whether the deal is favorable to the public or anti-competitive. Apparently, Europe has taken on the smugness of the USA when it comes to letting corporations get what they want.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 08 2021, @01:18PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 08 2021, @01:18PM (#1185514)

      All the Euros on this site love to bash America for the same exact things that go on in their little countries.
      To hear the Euro commenters, they live in some Utopia not populated by humans or politics, run by saints. It is a big laugh!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 08 2021, @03:31PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 08 2021, @03:31PM (#1185542)

      What makes you think that kinda stuff was invented in the US?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 08 2021, @07:53PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 08 2021, @07:53PM (#1185604)

      Yeah, it's a straight up bribery - addresses the anti-competitive concerns NOT AT ALL.

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday October 08 2021, @01:36PM (8 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday October 08 2021, @01:36PM (#1185518) Journal

    I kinda like nVidia, so I might be lenient toward them.

    But, I dump on all the other big names and their acquisitions, so I should be consistent. In today's world, there is only room for two sizes of companies: too small to notice, and big enough to be gobbled up by the major corporation. I don't like that scheme at all.

    • (Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday October 08 2021, @04:03PM (1 child)

      by PiMuNu (3823) on Friday October 08 2021, @04:03PM (#1185550)

      That's three sizes isn't it?

      • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday October 09 2021, @02:42AM

        by deimtee (3272) on Saturday October 09 2021, @02:42AM (#1185692) Journal

        Technically, but the middle one isn't stable.

        --
        If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 08 2021, @07:09PM (5 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 08 2021, @07:09PM (#1185595)

      Fuck Nvidia. They should not get Arm, no way in hell.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 08 2021, @10:30PM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 08 2021, @10:30PM (#1185642)

        Nvidia are ready to walk away from the deal in any case. The IP theft shenanigans with ARM China should have shaken any investor's confidence in acquiring them.

        I'd rather Nvidia embrace RISC-V. With their code-morphing VLIW technology, they're the best placed to seamlessly switch if Denver 3 added a RISC-V decoder.

        • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday October 08 2021, @10:57PM (3 children)

          by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday October 08 2021, @10:57PM (#1185652) Journal

          I don't really understand the benefits for Nvidia and I've followed the story from the beginning. There's big risks to the acquisition, including the reactions of other companies licensing Arm. Without the acquisition, Nvidia can still make as many Arm CPUs as Samsung/TSMC (and theoretically Intel) can churn out, make custom Arm cores, or pivot to RISC-V.

          --
          [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 09 2021, @03:16AM (2 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 09 2021, @03:16AM (#1185698)

            I wonder if they could use ownership of ARM as leverage with Intel (or if Nvidia mgmt thinks they can). Supposedly, Nvidia wanted an x86 license to use with their Denver cores, but Intel refused them, so they used ARM instead.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Denver [wikipedia.org]

            https://semiaccurate.com/2011/08/05/what-is-project-denver-based-on/ [semiaccurate.com]

            • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday October 09 2021, @03:51AM (1 child)

              by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday October 09 2021, @03:51AM (#1185707) Journal

              Nvidia is facing a new threat from Intel getting back into GPU production. The timeline is probably Alchemist laptop discrete GPUs arriving in Q1 2022, desktop in Q2, and the massive Ponte Vecchio for high performance computing sometime in 2022 [insidehpc.com]. Both AMD and Intel can bundle their x86 CPU and GPU products together, optimize them to work well with each other, etc. It would be difficult to take the gaming market on with ARM instead of x86, but not impossible.

              Here's Nvidia's Ampere DGX supercomputer product switching from Intel Xeon to AMD Epyc last year:

              NVIDIA Ditches Intel Xeon, Goes All Onboard With AMD’s EPYC CPUs With Next-Gen Ampere GPUs [wccftech.com]

              It's not hard to imagine them making ARM server CPUs like the Ampere (no relation) Altra Max [anandtech.com] with 128 cores. Technically, no customization is required since ARM has designed "Neoverse" cores for these applications.

              --
              [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 09 2021, @09:41PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 09 2021, @09:41PM (#1185839)

                I was thinking more along the lines that Intel is an ARM licensee. NVIDIA could refuse ARM license to Intel unless Intel granted x86 license to NVIDIA.

                Or, to your point about more GPU competition, maybe nvidia just wants to diversify income streams with ARM licensing revenue.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 08 2021, @04:57PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 08 2021, @04:57PM (#1185565)

    clearly no European tech should be allowed to be controlled by a non-white company. If the EU wasn't run by shabbos goy race traitors this would be a hard line. Rise up and deal with the traitor politicians in all white countries before it's too late.

  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 08 2021, @05:16PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 08 2021, @05:16PM (#1185571)

    I just ejaculated on my pet snail Robby and he melted what do I do?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 08 2021, @08:39PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 08 2021, @08:39PM (#1185619)

    Why does the EU still get a vote on a British company?

(1)