The concessions aim to avoid rejection or further investigations into the Nvidia’s plans to buy Arm.
This week Reuters reported that Nvidia has offered the EU concessions as it struggles to gain antitrust approval for its $54 billion acquisition of British chip designer Arm. Reuters pulled the information from a European Commission filing on Wednesday.
Nvidia, which is the world’s biggest maker of graphics and AI chips, announced the deal last year. That announcement sparked worries in the semiconductor industry. They are concerned that Arm could not remain a neutral player in licensing intellectual property to Nvidia’s rivals.
Arm is owned by Japan’s SoftBank Group. The company is a major supplier of global semiconductors. Indeed, its designs power nearly every smartphone and millions of other devices. Nvidia is one of Arm’s customers.
The EU competition enforcer did not provide details of the concessions Nvidia has offered. However, in line with its policy, its set an Oct. 27 deadline for its decision on the deal.
EU is inviting feedback from other market players
The enforcer will now solicit input from Nvidia’s competitors – as well as their customers – before deciding whether to accept the concessions. Possible decisions include the EU demanding more concessions from Nvidia. Alternatively, they could open a four-month long investigation or just simply deny the acquisition.
Nvidia has said it would maintain Arm as a neutral technology supplier. These assurances were given to allay the fears of customers such as Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics and Apple. Arm customers Broadcom, MediaTek and Marvell actually support the deal.
Tip: Why the acquisition of ARM by Nvidia should be prohibited