Nvidia’s acquisition of Arm canceled

Citing “significant regulatory challenges,” Nvidia has called off the acquisition of Arm. Softbank, the Japanese owner of the British company, will pursue an IPO instead. Arm has appointed a new CEO, Rene Haas, to make preparations for the public offering.

The 40-billion-dollar deal would have given Nvidia control over IP that’s key to virtually every smartphone and tablet processor, including those designed by Apple. Unlike a handful of other tech companies, however, Apple hasn’t publicly objected to the acquisition. Opponents argued that Nvidia’s ownership of Arm would hurt competition by granting Nvidia early access to Arm’s technology. They also weren’t too keen on sharing confidential information with a potential competitor.

Regulators also picked up on those potential issues. The buyout faced scrutiny in the UK, the European Union and the US. China, which was responsible for sinking the acquisition of NXP by Qualcomm (link in Dutch), would be a major hurdle too.