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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: 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!