Tuesday, May 31st 2022

Qualcomm wants Consortium to Keep Arm Independent

May 31st, 2022 13:12 Discuss (20 Comments)

After the failed NVIDIA-Arm acquisition attempt, which saw regulators burn up NVIDIA's $66 billion acquisition dreams of the UK chip designer, industry players are now mulling ways to insulate Arm from similar acquisition tactics that could upend the company's market neutrality. Speaking with the Financial Times, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said he favors a consortium approach to acquiring Arm from parent company SoftBank. The Japanese conglomerate paid around $26 billion for Arm in 2016, and is now planning to capitalize on its investment with an IPO of the UK-based company that's expected to occur before the end of 2023.

Being a fabless design company, Arm has become one of the de-facto cornerstones for the technology industry. Its processor designs are easily the most ubiquitous worldwide, and can be found in everything from mobile phones (where Qualcomm, Samsung, and other companies' interests lay) through automotive, IOT, and even the world's now second-fastest supercomputer, Japan's Fugaku. Qualcomm's posture regarding the chip design company has been previously echoed by Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, who said he too saw value in an industry-led consortium pooling together resources to acquire Arm from Softbank in a way that would keep the company's crucial IP at arm's length from weaponization by any single tech industry player.

Sources: Financial Times, via Tom's Hardware

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20 Comments on Qualcomm wants Consortium to Keep Arm Independent

Chrispy_

It makes sense; Pretty much every ARM customer suffers if one of their competitors buys ARM.
Of course Nvidia were the ones to make the move. They're the only company rich enough and anti-competitive enough to do such an arrogant thing....

FeelinFroggy

Of course Qualcomm wants a consortium, they have the most to lose if ARM was acquired by a competitor.

lexluthermiester

This is something that would be better for the industry than one single company owning ARM. However, I still think it would be better if the British government to take ARM Holdings back to the UK and keep the ownership there.

RedBear

Chrispy_It makes sense; Pretty much every ARM customer suffers if one of their competitors buys ARM.
Of course Nvidia were the ones to make the move. They're the only company rich enough and anti-competitive enough to do such an arrogant thing....

Instead if a consortium of ARM customers buys ARM it's only prospective ARM customers and ARM customers that won't join the consortium that will suffer, this is a genial move from cash strapped but still arrogant Qualcomm.

dir_d

lexluthermiesterThis is something that would be better for the industry than one single company owning ARM. However, I still think it would be better if the British government to take ARM Holdings back to the UK and keep the ownership there.

Can you elaborate on this a little, i am curious about your thinking on this.

lexluthermiester

dir_dCan you elaborate on this a little, i am curious about your thinking on this.

You mean the part about taking the company back to the UK? The logic is simple, all of ARM's best achievements happened while the company was operating in the UK and was best managed there.

defaultluser

FeelinFroggyOf course Qualcomm wants a consortium, they have the most to lose if ARM was acquired by a competitor.

Hey look, someone is actually paying attention to all he Qualcomm whining (and what its really covering for?)

If they had real competition, then they would have to actually try ( but Samsung Exynos makes it so easy , and as long as they are faster, then that gets you the Android win)

Qualcomnm doesn't care about ios speed -mas long as its serviceable, they know most idiots will take the Android by-default!

ghazi

Can't help but find it funny that Intel is concerned about someone "weaponizing" the ARM ISA or designs, by not licensing them to others or trying to gimp the competition... :laugh:

What I don't understand is why they so eager to sell the chicken that lays golden eggs.

#10

jeremyshaw

r9What I don't understand is why they so eager to sell the chicken that lays golden eggs.

Another question to ask: does it actually lay golden eggs, or merely regular ones with the added cost of an investment group painting the surface with gold press?

#11

jeremyshawAnother question to ask: does it actually lay golden eggs, or merely regular ones with the added cost of an investment group painting the surface with gold press?

How about you Google that ?

#12

noel_fs

probably something everyone agrees with

#13

_Flare

not super precise but:
revenue:
2015 1.3B USD
2017 1.2B USD

EBIT income:
2017 0.2B USD

employees:
around 6250 in 2018

#14

fibre

r9What I don't understand is why they so eager to sell the chicken that lays golden eggs.

The current owner, Softbank, had (and probably still have) financial problems. They lost money in Vision Fund and also I believe they originally bought ARM to sell it at a higher value, not to invest and take care of it.

On the other hand there is RISC-V which may be viable in 5 years or so for others to use and ARM may lose a lot of marketshare.

#15

Minus Infinity

fibreThe current owner, Softbank, had (and probably still have) financial problems. They lost money in Vision Fund and also I believe they originally bought ARM to sell it at a higher value, not to invest and take care of it.

On the other hand there is RISC-V which may be viable in 5 years or so for others to use and ARM may lose a lot of marketshare.

No financial organisation buys a company for investment and long-term ownership, Softbank is just like all the others that inest in tech companies. At least they didn't asset strip them and sell of the IP to the highest bidders, the common modus operandi of most companies cough MS cough Google etc.

#16

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman

Chrispy_It makes sense; Pretty much every ARM customer suffers if one of their competitors buys ARM.
Of course Nvidia were the ones to make the move. They're the only company rich enough and anti-competitive enough to do such an arrogant thing....

You forget intel too

Minus InfinityNo financial organisation buys a company for investment and long-term ownership, Softbank is just like all the others that inest in tech companies. At least they didn't asset strip them and sell of the IP to the highest bidders, the common modus operandi of most companies cough MS cough Google etc.

Look at Rambus, they are just an IP whore

#17

watzupken

ARM is independent now and expected to IPO and stay independent. So how does owning stakes in ARM keep it independent? Very ironic to me.

#18

R-T-B

r9How about you Google that ?

instructions unclear got egg porn.

#19

Xajel

Pat Gelsinger says what?

Then he also should spinoff x86 completely from intel and create an independent consortium with both intel and AMD as founders (maybe even IBM, as they're the father of the PC), and major OEMs as members.

#20

_Flare

i think the whole risk is that ARM is globally relevant today and is too small to be resilient to "attacks" on its IP, like after an IPO.
There are sharks in the water everywhere.
RISC-V is a positive evolution because it takes a bit of the sharks focus away from ARM, but that doesn´t make it really safe for ARM in any way.
Intel is so big they can protect themselves and their IP, like a Big White Shark attacking an Orca ... very stupid shark.

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Qualcomm wants Consortium to Keep Arm Independent

20 Comments on Qualcomm wants Consortium to Keep Arm Independent

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