Since announcing plans to acquire ARM from Japanese firm, SoftBank, Nvidia has been confident that the deal will close in the first half of 2022. Due to on-going regulatory investigations and other unexpected delays, Nvidia admits the deal is taking longer to close than anticipated.
Speaking with The Financial Times, Nvidia CEO, Jensen Huang, was asked about the Arm deal and its timetable, to which Huang responded: “Our discussions with regulators are taking longer than initially thought, so it’s pushing out the timetable”.
The $40 billion deal in place with SoftBank gives Nvidia until the end of 2022 to clear the acquisition with regulators. Terms of the deal may have to be renegotiated if the timetable moves beyond 2022. Currently, there are on-going investigations into the deal in the US, UK and China, following complaints from rival tech giants like Google, Microsoft and Qualcomm.
While there have been some concerns raised over Nvidia's planned buyout of Arm, other companies like Broadcom, MediaTek and Marvell have voiced support for the deal. Currently, Nvidia remains “confident” that regulators will “recognise the benefits of the acquisition” and approve the deal to go ahead in 2022.
KitGuru Says: The largest acquisition in Nvidia's history has been met with plenty of complications and hurdles to jump through. In 2022, there should be a clearer picture on if and when the deal will close.