Nvidia vows to invest in Britain as part of US$40 billion Arm deal
- Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, said he was ready to have a discussion with the British government about how to expand Arm’s research presence
- The British government could ask to examine the deal on national security grounds, and request certain undertakings, such as a commitment to Cambridge and jobs
The head of Nvidia Corp vowed to step up investment in Britain and increase jobs there as part of its US$40 billion acquisition of chip designer Arm, following complaints from an Arm co-founder that the deal would destroy the company.
SoftBank, which only bought Arm in 2016, had previously agreed to certain rules to buy Arm, such as retaining its headquarters in Cambridge, England, and increasing jobs – a commitment that Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang reiterated on Monday.
“We want to grow Arm and make it become even greater,” Huang told analysts on a call, adding Arm would hire more engineers, spend more on research and run a new artificial intelligence research centre in Cambridge.
“The UK government will realise that we are making a very significant investment [in the country],” Huang said. He stopped short, however, of making formal job guarantees and said talks with the national government had yet to begin in earnest.