Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
It would seem that regulators around the world are up in arms about Nvidia’s potential acquisition of the Arm Ltd. chip design and manufacturer company, but another roadblock has just hit the deal. European Commission regulators have paused an investigation into the deal, delaying a late November deadline. This could, in turn, further delay Nvidia’s acquisition of Arm even if other regulatory investigations were to allow Nvidia to go ahead.
The EU pause of its investigation into Nvidia’s Arm acquisition was announced recently, as reported by Reuters. According to the report, the EU has paused its investigation into Nvidia’s deal, previously valued at $40 billion USD. While initially, the EU had a deadline of November 25 to complete its investigation and release its findings, delays caused by matters such as the COVID-19 pandemic have slowed efforts to gather data amid lockdown restrictions and employee shortage. As such, the EU has stopped the clock on that November 25 deadline with no word of when the investigation will resume.
The announcement of EU’s delay on its investigation comes just after the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also filed a lawsuit to block Nvidia’s acquisition of Arm, claiming that if the deal went through, it could jeopardize supply lines and give Nvidia too much control over its competitors and various private information related to Arm’s various business partners. This also comes after Qualcomm previously objected openly to the acquisition, citing various similar gatekeeping concerns if Nvidia owned Arm.
Even if all of these previously mentioned matters were resolved, the EU’s pause on its investigation could further delay the Nvidia/Arm deal for an unexpected amount of time. That said, with so many regulatory forces now at work in opposition of the deal, it remains to be seen if Nvidia will be able to acquire Arm at all. Stay tuned as we continue to follow this story for further updates and information.