SAN FRANCISCO, December 2, 2021 (AFP) — The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wants to block Nvidia’s acquisition of British microprocessor company Arm, as it “could undermine competition in the production of new technologies”, released Thursday said in a statement. ,
A month ago, the European Commission launched an investigation into a $40 billion takeover project fearing negative impacts on prices and competition in the sector, which currently faces a global shortage of supplies for industries.
The transaction was announced in September 2020 by Japan’s SoftBank, Arm’s parent company, which reached an agreement with American Nvidia, a leader in graphics cards.
If the acquisition goes through, “it would give one of the world’s largest chip companies control of the computer technologies and designs on which competing companies depend to develop their own components,” the FTC says.
The federal regulatory agency cites data centers and driver assistance systems as industries that require advanced semiconductors and may be suffering from a lack of competition, according to the FTC.
In mid-November, the British government asked its Competition Regulatory Authority to delve into the project’s analysis, citing potential barriers to innovation but also national security issues.
The US government and Congress have tightened their stance against big tech companies, which are regularly accused of abusing their dominance.
Their attacks usually target giants Google, Apple, Meta (Facebook) and Amazon.
The administrative hearing in this case is to be held on May 10, 2022.
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