The British government will analyze the national security implications of the acquisition by the American group Nvidia (NVDA.O) of the acquisition of the British chip designer ARM Holdings, said on Monday, questioning the $ 40 billion agreement.
Digital Minister Oliver Dowden said on Monday that it had issued a so-called “intervention notification” on the sale of ARM by Japanese SoftBank (9984.T) to Nvidia.
“As a next step and to help me gather relevant information, the UK independent competition authority will now prepare a report on the implications of the transaction, which will help inform any further decisions,” he said.
Nvidia said it did not believe the deal would pose material security issues for national security.
“We will continue to work closely with the UK authorities, as we have done since the announcement of this agreement,” said Nvidia, the largest chip company in the US by market capitalization.
ARM is a major player in global semiconductors, a sector that is fundamental to technologies from artificial intelligence and quantum computing to 5G telecommunications networks.
The semiconductors form the basis of Britain’s critical national infrastructure and deal with technologies related to defense and national security, the government said, adding that security community officials informed the decision to intervene.
The Competition and Markets Authority will assess the impact of competition, jurisdiction and national security of the transaction, with a report to be published by July 30, the government said.
Dowden will then decide whether to cancel the transaction, either with or without commitments from the companies involved, or send it for a longer and more in-depth investigation.
The takeover, which was announced in September, puts vital silicon chip manufacturers under the control of a single player under the control of vital suppliers.
ARM, which was founded and is still in Cambridge, England, does not produce chips, but has created an instruction set architecture based on kernel computing projects.
Its chip projects and technology are licensed to clients such as Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O), Apple (AAPL.O) and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS).
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