SoftBank’s chip designer arm is considering an acquisition of Ampere Computing

(Bloomberg) — SoftBank Group Corp. is exploring… and majority-owned Arm Holdings Plc, a deal for Ampere Computing LLC, according to people familiar with the matter.

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Ampere, a semiconductor design company backed by Oracle Corp, has attracted takeover interest from Arm while exploring its strategic options, said the people, who asked to remain anonymous because the discussions were private.

People warned that the talks could collapse. It is also possible that Ampere could end up being bought by another suitor.

Ampere, which designs semiconductors using Arm technology, was valued at $8 billion in a proposed minority investment by Japan’s SoftBank in 2021, Bloomberg News reported at the time. It’s not possible to know what valuation SoftBank, Arm, and Ampere are currently discussing.

Representatives for Arm and Ampere declined to comment. Spokespeople for SoftBank and Oracle did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Bloomberg News reported in September that Ampere was working with a financial advisor to help field the acquisition. The Santa Clara, California-based company’s interest in striking a deal with a larger player in the industry suggests it has not found an easy path to an IPO.

The Ampere deal, whose early backers also include Carlyle Group Inc., will add to a wave of chip companies looking to cash in on an AI spending boom. Oracle said last year that it owned 29% of the startup and could exercise future investment options that would give it control of the chip maker.

Although Ampere stands to benefit from the ongoing AI craze, the market is becoming more competitive, with many major technology companies rushing to develop the same types of chips that Ampere makes. While there is significant interest in controlling key components as the data center industry retools for the age of artificial intelligence, Ampere, like larger rival Intel Corp., must… and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., responding to a shift in spending away from central processing units, or central processing units, toward Nvidia Corp.’s accelerator chips.

Ampere manufactures processors for data center machines using Arm technology. Arm is increasingly moving from being a licensor of core standards and blueprints to a full-fledged chip manufacturer. The addition of Ampere engineers, many of whom worked at Intel’s former industry-leading server chip unit, could add experience and momentum to CEO Rene Haas’ push into that market.

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