Intel interested in Arm acquisition after Nvidia deal fails
Nvidia announced the cancellation of its $40 billion Arm acquisition earlier this month, citing 'severe regulatory hurdles'
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has said that Intel would be open to being part of a consortium to buy British chip designer Arm Ltd from SoftBank Group (SBG), following Nvidia's failed attempt at a merger.
Gelsinger told Reuters that there had been talk in the chip industry about forming a consortium to buy Arm, before Nvidia revealed its intent to acquire the British firm in September 2020.
Nvidia formally announced the cancellation of its planned acquisition earlier this month, citing 'severe regulatory hurdles.'
SBG and Nvidia said in a joint statement that they had agreed not to move forward with the deal, despite good faith efforts by both parties.
Arm now aims to launch an IPO by the end of the March next year.
Gelsinger said Intel would be happy to see Arm launch an IPO or be owned by a consortium.
"We're not big users of Arm, but we do use Arm. We're going to get to be bigger users of Arm as we make it part of our IFS [foundry business] agenda as well." Gelsinger said. "So if a consortium would emerge, we would probably be very favorable to participate in it in some manner," he noted.
A victim of its own success
Because Arm's designs are so widely used in the chip industry, a consortium including Arm customers is likely to come up against the same regulatory hurdles Nvidia faced.
Apple, Samsung and Qualcomm are among the big tech firms that rely on Arm's chip designs, and nearly every smartphone in the world uses an Arm chip.
Gelsinger's statement comes as Intel is increasing its investments in new technologies and factories to meet growing chip demand.
Earlier this month, the company announced that it is buying Israeli semiconductor firm Tower Semiconductor for $5.4 billion (about £4 billion), boosting a strategy to produce chips for other companies.
Intel expects the acquisition to give it access to more specialised production and help it catch up with Samsung and TSMC.
The deal is specifically designed to strengthen the Intel Foundry Service division, which was established last year to use Intel's chipmaking expertise and manufacturing facilities to make chips for other firms.
Last month, Intel shared plans to invest $20 billion in two chip fabs in Ohio, which could eventually become the world's largest chip making complex.
In May last year, Intel announced a $3.5 billion investment in its existing chip fab in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, to develop its 'Foveros' chip-stacking technology.
Oother chipmakers have also announced significant deals and investments in recent months. For example, AMD completed its $50 billion acquisition of Xilinx, to give itself an extra edge in the data centre market.