The UK's
Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has asked interested parties to
comment on the potential impact of the
planned $40 billion NVIDIA Corporation takeover of UK-based chip designer Arm Limited. A formal investigation is expected later this year.
US-based technology company NVIDIA Corporation agreed a deal in September 2020 to purchase the Intellectual Property Group business of Arm from Japan's SoftBank, which acquired it in 2016.
The CMA says it's likely to consider whether NVIDIA-controlled Arm would have an incentive to withdraw, raise prices or reduce the quality of its services to NVIDIA’s rivals.
Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said "The chip technology industry is worth billions and critical to many of the products that we use most in our everyday lives. We will work closely with other competition authorities around the world to carefully consider the impact of the deal and ensure that it doesn’t ultimately result in consumers facing more expensive or lower quality products."
Similar investigations are expected in other major markets where Arm and NVIDIA operate.