SoftBank’s acquisition of AI chip designer Ampere could also be dealing with an FTC probe

SoftBank’s $6.5 billion acquisition of AI-chip designer Ampere is dealing with an in-depth US authorities probe which will delay the deal, based on Bloomberg. The Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) has opened a so-called second request for info, a comparatively uncommon investigation that may go on for greater than a yr and even result in a lawsuit blocking it, based on folks conversant in the matter. Neither SoftBank nor Ampere have commented on the matter.

Japan’s SoftBank, headed by Masayoshi Son, already owns chip designer Arm following a $32 billion acquisition in 2016. Ampere, based in 2018 with a concentrate on cloud-native computing, lately moved strongly into AI chip design — so SoftBank is betting that the corporate will bolster’s Arm’s analysis and improvement in that space. Underneath the deal, Santa Clara-based Ampere would would hold its title and run as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

If the deal goes by, SoftBank will personal Arm, UK chip designer Graphcore Ltd. and Ampere, all key gamers within the AI area. The FTC could due to this fact be probing the deal as a possible antitrust problem. SoftBank’s try to promote Arm to NVIDIA was eventually abandoned for related causes. The AI area has additionally grow to be politicized with projects like Stargate, which closely includes SoftBank as effectively.

SoftBank has battled some headwinds of late. Stargate has been facing delays because of US tariffs and its Arm division is battling Qualcomm over chip licenses and antitrust complains in Europe, the US and South Korea.