Beijing likely to reject Arm-Nvidia deal over US fears, says former Lenovo chief engineer
- Beijing’s main concern, according to most China watchers, is the risk of Arm technology coming under US export control regulations
- US tech sanctions have galvanised China to double down on developing its own domestic semiconductor industry
The former chief engineer of Chinese computer giant Lenovo Group believes Beijing may block Nvidia’s acquisition of SoftBank-owned chip architecture company Arm over fears that the technology would fall under US export controls.
“I believe the Chinese commerce ministry will reject the acquisition,” said Ni Guangnan, 81, an academic under the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He was speaking at a forum in Zhengzhou, Henan province, the transcript of which was posted on Chinese news portal Sina.com.
Ni, a strong advocate of China’s self-sufficiency in key technologies, said China would not be “comfortable” using the Arm chip architecture if it were owned by a US company.
Early this month, SoftBank-owned Arm said Nivida, a leader in GPU and AI computing chips, agreed to buy Arm for US$40 billion.
However, China’s antitrust regulator could block the deal on the premise that it could create a monopoly for the supply of chip design tools. But Beijing’s main concern, according to most China watchers, is the risk of Arm technology coming under US export control regulations.
“If the acquisition were to happen, it could bode ill for us,” Ni said.
