UK assesses national security risk of Nvidia’s deal to buy British chip designer ARM from Softbank
- The UK market watchdog will investigate the deal and release a report by July 30
- Nvidia does not believe there are material security implications
The UK government will look into the national security implications of US group Nvidia’s purchase of British chip designer ARM Holdings, it said on Monday, raising a question mark over the US$40 billion deal.
Digital minister Oliver Dowden said he had issued a so-called intervention notice over the sale of ARM by Japan’s SoftBank to Nvidia.
“As a next step and to help me gather the relevant information, the UK’s independent competition authority will now prepare a report on the implications of the transaction, which will help inform any further decisions,” he said.
Nvidia said it does not believe the deal poses any material national security issues.
“We will continue to work closely with the British authorities, as we have done since the announcement of this deal,” said Nvidia, the biggest US chip company by market capitalisation.
DEFENCE TECH
Semiconductors also underpin critical infrastructure in Britain and are in technology related to defence and national security matters, the government said, adding that officials from the security community had informed the decision to intervene.