The Competition and Markets Authority is about to review Nvidia . This authority will examine, among other things, the market implications of the acquisition in the UK. This is the first step in the international validation process for the purchase. ARM is a UK-based company specializing in the design and manufacture of computing architectures for low-power mobile solutions.
ARM is positioned as a leader in manufacturing low-power computing solutions, especially in the mobile sector: its various chips for tablets and smartphones are part of this portfolio. The announcement of Nvidia's acquisition of ARM was made in mid-September 2020. If all goes according to plan, the acquisition process will be completed around May 2022. The transaction is estimated to be worth approximately $40 billion.
The first step in validating this acquisition is with the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority). This UK body aims to assess all the competitive impacts of the acquisition on the UK market. The CMA has set a deadline of January 27, 2021, to gather comments and feedback from the various stakeholders involved in the sale. From this date, the CMA will analyze these comments and issue its own opinion. Opinions against the acquisition have already been issued, including one from one of ARM's founders. He opposes the acquisition, stating that Nvidia's takeover of ARM will have a significant competitive impact on ARM's partners who compete directly with Nvidia. Furthermore, this acquisition of the UK-based ARM by the American company Nvidia could be considered a technology leak in the UK, potentially complicating the acquisition process. Furthermore, after this stage, the positions taken by the European Union , China and the USA will also carry weight.
In short, Nvidia's acquisition of ARM is progressing but is likely to be quite complicated. We will be following this story closely and will be on the lookout for any further news.
