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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
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 12 2021, @01:09AM (7 children)
I thought the government was *finally* getting wise to the fact that $Big Corp acquiring $Random Assets was counter productive, if what you want is innovation.
Granted, nVidia is not one of the prime suspects in the monopoly wars, but they are more than big enough to be watching carefully.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by RamiK on Friday February 12 2021, @01:39AM (4 children)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_Partner_Program [wikipedia.org]
compiling...
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 12 2021, @02:16AM (3 children)
nVidia yielded to pressure. The Big Tech Giants won't yield to anything short of government regulation, backed by agents and/or troops with guns.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday February 12 2021, @03:04AM (2 children)
Biden will make it okay, hell -- mandatory, for Americans to cede their tech dominance to Chinks. But in NVIDIA's defense, they're not one of those "evil" tech companies directly involved in propaganda and fucking with the flow of human information. They may sell their product (muh AI, muh Buttcoin mining) to those that enable treason and propaganda, but unlike Facebook and Twitter they're not an inherently evil company. They want to make bucks, not control minds. And unlike Facebook and Twitter, NVIDIA have actual products, something to fall back on in case the deep-state funny-money dries up (with Twitter and Facebook along with it).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 12 2021, @03:17AM
Facebook and Twitter are not evil, they merely process the excrement of their users for profit.
As long as the Germans can export beer around the world, who gives a damn?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 12 2021, @06:36PM
"but unlike Facebook and Twitter they're not an inherently evil company"
oh yes they are. they are slaveware peddling scum doing everything they can to inhibit human freedom. fuck you, nvidia!
(Score: 2) by mth on Friday February 12 2021, @06:07AM
They first have to acquire a monopoly position before they can abuse it. It looks like this time regulators are not going to sit back and watch that happen.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by driverless on Friday February 12 2021, @07:51AM
The EU at least has, they have strong anti-monopoly regulators. The story's claim that "This is why Beijing will never let the takeover go through" sounds like a pile of bollocks, I never knew the International Communist Conspiracy had that much power. Even the emotional title "a classic example of geopolitics killing innovation" is bollocks - how is nVidia becoming a monopoly with control of the CPUs for the entire world's phones and mobile devices "innovation"? Or do they mean innovation in predatory business practices?
So I'm glad it's dead, not for any reason connected to China but because I don't want nVidia in control of all phones and tablets.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 12 2021, @01:33AM (1 child)
Even If ARM does get acquired by Nvidia, China/Huawei can still throw money at RISC-V design and in due time it will become competitive with ARM's offerings.
(Score: 3, Touché) by takyon on Friday February 12 2021, @02:30AM
Hell, they could just continue to use ARM. Start customizing the designs like Apple does, and "steal" any new IP withheld by Nvidiarm if necessary.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 12 2021, @06:48AM (3 children)
Seems more likely to encourage innovation if anything.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday February 12 2021, @09:28AM (2 children)
I believe his claim was actually that allowing Nvidia to buy ARM would harm innovation.
(Score: 2) by mth on Friday February 12 2021, @03:17PM (1 child)
The author does claim that the merger would help innovation. The motivation for that given in the article boils down to "bigger is better" and as someone who has done development for a big company, I have my doubts.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday February 12 2021, @08:36PM
Perhaps I shouldn't comment so late. I see you are correct. Also agreed that mergers only slow innovation and raise prices.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Subsentient on Friday February 12 2021, @10:41AM (3 children)
I can't decide which takes precedence here: My bitter, scalding hatred for China, or my bitter, scalding hatred for Nvidia.
Damn.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 12 2021, @12:45PM
Hey dude, you comment came 802 posts too late.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 12 2021, @02:10PM
Why choose? It's a Big Tent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 13 2021, @04:11PM
wasn't nvidia founded by a chinaman?