Nvidia's Acquisition Of Arm Proves A Boon For Rival Chipmaker

Nvidia Corporation’s NVDA $40 billion acquisition deal of the British semiconductor Arm Ltd. is acting as an accelerant for a smaller market rival.

What Happened: Patrick Little, CEO and President of SiFive Inc. in an interview with Reuters claimed that customer interest in their technology is on the rise.

Patrick was a former Qualcomm Inc. QCOM executive and was declared the new CEO and President of SiFive on Thursday.

SiFive operates in the commercial RISC-V processor business, an open-source chip technology. Reportedly, since his appointment, Little was contacted by many of the company’s customers “asking to work more closely on major designs.”

“Already, six of the top ten semiconductor companies are working with SiFive," Little said. "We just got a big basket of funding, and frankly now I know where all that needs to go."

Since June, the company has raised over $125 million in two funding rounds. In August, SiFive raised $61 million from its Series E funding round led by Korean semiconductor supplier SK Hynix Inc. Whereas in June, it raised $65.4 million from a Series D funding led by existing investors and new investor Qualcomm Ventures LLC.

Why Does It Matter: Arm's acquisition by the American company during the United States-China tensions led to concerns that it could directly impact the semiconductor industry worldwide.

The company's co-founder Hermann Houser expressed his views against the acquisition, dubbing it a “disaster” for all of Europe.

According to CCS Insights Analyst Geoff Blaber, the Nvidia takeover could drive chip manufacturers to explore engagement with other open-sourced technology companies.