Nvidia and its hopes of acquiring British semiconductor technology manufacturer Arm for more than US$80 billion (A$114 billion) may not come true, but experts say the chipmaker has much to focus on as it moves into the metaverse.
The US Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit last week to stop the acquisition, plagued by worldwide regulatory scrutiny. Analysts have long felt that the deal’s prospects of success are limited to none.
“Even if Nvidia does not complete its ARM Holdings purchase, demand for NVIDIA AI continues to rise,” said Ivan Feinseth of Tigress Financial Partners, adding that “Nvidia is all about AI and the Omniverse/metaverse.”
Nvidia, the world’s largest supplier of AI processors and graphics, has increased its focus on data centers as more internet businesses invest in the metaverse, an online environment that links people through augmented reality and virtual reality.
The massive transaction would provide Nvidia with exposure to Arm, which licenses its chips and designs to major chipmakers Apple, Qualcomm, and Samsung and a potential to control the memory chip business. It would also place Nvidia in direct rivalry with data centers processor industry rivals such as Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. “What is lost is Nvidia’s capacity to invest in the ARM ecosystem in a far more significant way than SoftBank or ARM can,” said WestPark Capital analyst Ruben Roy.
According to the FTC, the agreement would give Nvidia control over competitors’ processing techniques and designs to manufacture their processors. “It’d be great to have Arm… But if they fail, they will save the purchasing money… We believe the firm will be OK in any case “Stacy Rasgon, a Bernstein analyst, stated.
