SoftBank-Owned Arm Eyes Acquisition Of Oracle-Backed Chip Designer Ampere Computing Amid Nvidia's Dominance: Report

Kaustubh Bagalkote

January 9, 2025

Benzinga

Arm Holdings PLC – ADR (NASDAQ:ARM) is exploring the potential acquisition of semiconductor designer Ampere Computing LLC, signaling further consolidation in the artificial intelligence chip sector.

What Happened: Ampere, which designs data center processors using Arm’s technology and is backed by Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL), has been fielding takeover interest while working with financial advisers to explore strategic options, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg on Wednesday.

The company was previously valued at $8 billion in a proposed SoftBank Group Corp. (OTC:SFTBY) minority investment in 2021.

The potential deal emerges as Ampere faces intensifying competition in the AI chip market. In May, the company partnered with Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) to launch an AI-focused server combining Ampere’s CPUs with Qualcomm’s Cloud AI 100 Ultra chips for inference tasks. This collaboration aims to establish a stronger foothold in the data center market currently dominated by NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA).

Arm Holdings and Ampere Computing did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comment.

Why It Matters: Oracle currently holds a 29% stake in Ampere with options to gain control. The startup, which had confidentially filed for an IPO in April 2022, is led by CEO Renee James, a former Intel Corp. executive.

In May, the company announced plans for next-generation CPUs featuring 256 processing cores, manufactured using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.‘s (NYSE:TSM) 3-nanometer process.

For Arm, acquiring Ampere could accelerate its evolution from a technology licensor to a more complete chipmaker, potentially leveraging Ampere’s engineering expertise in the server market. The discussions, however, remain fluid and could fall through, according to the report.

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