Nvidia has been going through the arduous process of trying to acquire top semiconductor company Arm for some time now. Despite Nvidia’s stalwart attempts to convince those who opposed the acquisition that the merger would be worthwhile for everyone, all has not been going to plan.
We reported a couple of weeks back that Nvidia could be ready to abandon its Arm acquisition. And now, UK politicians are making a case for SoftBank to float Arm on the London stock market as a public offering, their argument hinging on the fact the deal is a matter of “national interest.”
Nvidia’s prospective Arm deal has been met with heaps of pushback. Although the company has argued it should be allowed to buy Arm because Intel and AMD are really, really good, and because buying Arm will “spur competition” in consoles, not hinder it, it’s been looking increasingly like SoftBank may instead opt for a public offering if that all falls through.
According to This is Money (via TechPowerUp) several British MP’s are right now trying to convince SoftBank to get Arm on the London Stock Exchange, instead of selling to Nvidia. They have made it clear they believe the £30 billion (~$45 billion) business should come down to a public offering in Britain.
Their reasoning? “To ensure its interests and those of its investors are aligned with our national interest.”
With Arm’s Global Headquarters based in Cambridge, England, the politicians evidently feel it makes sense to see the company offered in London, before being offered to a foreign company like Nvidia. Though, that said, Arm is currently owned by a Japanese company.
There’s no official word from Nvidia on the matter, and nothing is set in stone, but the idea of a public offering does look much more likely than it did last year.