As the news agency reports Reuters, NVIDIA has offered concessions to EU antitrust in an effort to insure the approval of the acquisition of the British designer Arm. The European Competition Authority did not provide details on the concessions made by the US company and set the October 27 as a deadline for making a decision (the preliminary date was 13 October).
The EU antitrust will have to verify these concessions by also listening to rivals and customers before deciding whether to accept them, after which it could ask for further changes from NVIDIA or open a four-month investigation.
NVIDIA originally set March 2022 to complete the deal, valued at $ 40 billion a year ago. From Qualcomm to Google, there are several companies that have raised their concerns an acquisition that could change the role of arm, called the “Switzerland of the semiconductor industry”.
The designer from the United Kingdom, in fact, creates architectures which he then makes available to clients who can do what they want with it, paying a license: there are those who use architecture as it is and there are those who modify it to reach certain functionality, performance and / or consumption objectives.
Other companies such as Broadcom, MediaTek and Marvell Technology have instead given their support to the operation, evidently seeing those beneficial prospects feared by Simon Segars, CEO of arm, in recent weeks. The agreement between NVIDIA and arm will also have to pass the scrutiny of the authorities of the United States and China.
To all the worries, NVIDIA has always replied that not only will it keep the arm business model unchanged, but the merger will bring technological advantages that will spill over to licensees. However, the promises made so far have not convinced the UK competition and markets authority, which found the reassurances insufficient at this stage.
“We are moving from the regulatory process and we look forward to engaging with the European Commission to address any concerns you may have“said an NVIDIA spokesperson a Bloomberg. “This transaction will be beneficial to Arm, its licensees, the competition and the industry.”
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