Nvidia Purchase Of Arm Faces UK Scrutiny

Nvidia Corporation’s NVDA purchase of British chipmaker Arm Ltd from SoftBank Group Corp SFTBY is under the scanner of the United Kingdom government, Reuters reported late Monday.

What Happened: The U.K. Digital Minister Caroline Dinenage told lawmakers that Nvidia’s commitment to keeping the chipmaker’s headquarters and staff in Cambridge in Eastern England is being studied.

“We are currently working very hard to understand the full impact of this move and what potential impact it may have on the future, and from there we are able to consider what steps we may wish to take,” the minister told lawmakers Tuesday, as per Reuters.

The minister reportedly said that the government had already held discussions with the parties involved and a decision to intervene would be the prerogative of the secretary of state for digital, culture, media, and sport after consideration of relevant information.

Why It Matters: Earlier this month, Nvidia said it was acquiring Arm from SoftBank’s Vision Fund for $40 billion, in one of the largest semiconductor deals.

Arm CEO Hermann Hauser criticized the sale to Nvidia and termed it a disaster for Cambridge, the United Kingdom, and Europe.

“It’s the last European technology company with global relevance and it’s being sold to the Americans,” Hauser said.

Arm’s chips are used in smartphones and will be used in the future iterations of Apple Inc’s AAPL Mac range of computers. 

Price Action: Nvidia shares closed nearly 2.7% higher at $500.69 on Monday and gained 0.44% in the after-hours session.