Arm Co-Founder On Nvidia Deal: Sale To 'Americans' A 'Disaster' For Europe

Arm Ltd. CEO Hermann Hauser openly criticized Softbank Group Corporation’s SFTBY sale of the chipmaker to Nvidia Corporation NVDA on Monday.

What Happened: Hauser claimed in an interview with Reuters that Softbank’s decision to offload stake in the semiconductor company "was a disaster for Cambridge, the [United Kingdom,] and Europe."

Nvidia struck a $40 billion deal with Arm's Tokyo-baed parent Softbank on Sunday for the acquisition.

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

The Arm CEO suggested that the British regulators should consider aiding Arm in listing its stock, through an Initial Public Offering, on the London Stock Exchange.

President Donald Trump's administration has been pushing to develop the semiconductor industry domestically, amid increased trade tensions with China.

Why Does It Matter: Arm Holdings generates revenues by licensing its technology to other companies, who in turn use it to manufacture their products. Some of Arm’s client base include well known smart device manufacturers like Apple Inc AAPL, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. SSNLF, and Qualcomm Inc. QCOM.

According to CCS Insights analyst Geoff Blaber, the deal was detrimental for Arm’s business ecosystem and could even lead chip manufacturers to other open-source alternative technology companies, Reuters reported separately.

Price Movement:  Softbank ADR’s were up by 2.12% and closed at $27.50 on Friday. Whereas Nvidia Stock was up 5.95% and quoting $486.58 during the pre-market session on Monday.