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ARM Co-Founder Starts 'Save Arm' Campaign To Keep Independence Amid $40 Billion Nvidia Deal (techcrunch.com) 61

Posted by BeauHD from the economic-sovereignty dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Arm Holdings, the U.K. semiconductor company, made history for the second time today, becoming the country's biggest tech exit when Nvidia announced over the weekend that it would buy it from SoftBank for $40 billion in an all-stock deal. (Arm's first appearance in the record books? When SoftBank announced in 2016 that it would acquire the company for $32 billion.) But before you can say advanced reduced instruction set computing machine, the deal has hit a minor hitch. One of Arm's co-founders has started a campaign to get the U.K. to interfere in the deal, or else call it off and opt for a public listing backed by the government.

Hermann Hauser, who started the company in 1990 along with a host of others as a spin-out of Acorn Computers, has penned an open letter to the U.K.'s Prime Minister Boris Johnson in which he says that he is "extremely concerned" about the deal and how it will impact jobs in the country, Arm's business model and the future of the country's economic sovereignty independent of the U.S. and U.S. interests. Hauser has also created a site to gather public support -- savearm.co.uk -- and to that end has also started to collect signatures from business figures and others. He's calling on the government to intervene, or to at least create legally binding provisions, tied to passing the deal to guarantee jobs, create a way to enforce Nvidia not getting preferential treatment over other licensees and secure an exemption from CFIUS regulation "so that U.K. companies are guaranteed unfettered access to our own microprocessor technology." "This puts Britain in the invidious position that the decision about who ARM is allowed to sell to will be made in the White House and not in Downing Street," he writes. "Sovereignty used to be mainly a geographic issue, but now economic sovereignty is equally important. Surrendering UK's most powerful trade weapon to the US is making Britain a US vassal state."

Meanwhile, Nvidia CEO and co-founder Jensen Huang said: "This will drive innovation for customers of both companies," adding that Nvidia "will maintain Arm's open licensing model and customer neutrality... We love Arm's business model. In fact, we intend to expand Arm's licensing portfolio with access to Nvidia's technology. Both our ecosystems will be enriched by this combination." Hauser responded by saying: "Do not believe any statements which are not legally binding."
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ARM Co-Founder Starts 'Save Arm' Campaign To Keep Independence Amid $40 Billion Nvidia Deal More

ARM Co-Founder Starts 'Save Arm' Campaign To Keep Independence Amid $40 Billion Nvidia Deal

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  • This disingenuous fuck. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14, 2020 @03:07PM (#60505492)

    If you wanted it to stay British, you should have not cashed that check. And of course, he wants OTHERS to foot the bill. Fuck off you tosser.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Archangel Michael ( 180766 )

      Nevermind that Softbank is Japanese and not British. ARM stopped being British when that happened. Crying now is like crying over the milk you spilled four years ago.

      • Re:This disingenuous fuck. (Score:4, Informative)

        by ad3a ( 7241152 ) on Monday September 14, 2020 @03:31PM (#60505592)
        He said exactly the same things 4 years ago, the only difference was that Softbank was a neutral company, which nVidia is not. Only actor to blame here is the UK govmnt of 4 years ago.

        • Governments are severely lacking people who are technically literate even just a little bit.

          I find it interesting that the arm/Nividia hasn't raised more antitrust questions than it has - or that Nvidia could EOL the processor if they felt the need. Maybe others could expand on that question.

          • There is no Anti-trust concerning NVIDIA, as they are just as viable a caretaker for this as if Apple bought the thing.

            Anybody who buys ARM knows what they are getting into, and that requires mass-quantities of processors licenses sold at low margins. NVIDIA has already sol d their soul to the ARM corporation with Tegra, , and they've even had a go at building their own VLIW ARM core.

            If anything, NVIDIA would love more compute-focused chips to power their AI platforms, so you can expect them to push thing

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by ad3a ( 7241152 )

            Governments are severely lacking people who are technically literate even just a little bit.

            I find it interesting that the arm/Nividia hasn't raised more antitrust questions than it has - or that Nvidia could EOL the processor if they felt the need. Maybe others could expand on that question.

            It will raise concerns, at least with China.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by noodler ( 724788 )

          Only actor to blame here is the UK govmnt of 4 years ago.

          WTF are you talking about? How is the government to be blamed for a financial transaction between two companies? Having the government meddle is a dirty protectionist trick to have the cake and eat it too. ARM certainly profited from operating in an investment world, but now they want to back peddle and reneg. Bunch of tossers.

    • Re:This disingenuous fuck. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ad3a ( 7241152 ) on Monday September 14, 2020 @03:29PM (#60505578)
      Hauser left Arm way before it was sold, and it was already public when it was acquired by Softbank, so this comment does not make any sense at all.

      • Hauser left Arm way before it was sold, and it was already public when it was acquired by Softbank, so this comment does not make any sense at all.

        If he was so concerned about keeping ARM a UK company, why did he leave . . . ?

        He could have stayed on with ARM, and kept ARM on the course he believed in.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by ad3a ( 7241152 )
          Not sure what this means. He should have stayed with Arm 20 years more than he did just to make sure UK gvnmt didn't sell it off? People are allowed to pursue other interests, you know.

          • The UK government didn't sell it off. It was a public company. The investors are allowed to do what they want within the law. Why is it ok now for a government to intervene in a perfectly legal and above the board transaction? Because a guy who hasn't been involved with the company for 2 decades thinks so? Fuck that.

  • handy (Score:5, Funny)

    by bugs2squash ( 1132591 ) on Monday September 14, 2020 @03:12PM (#60505514)
    wouldn't "give arm a hand" have been a better slogan ?
  • Maybe NVIDIA should spend that somewhere else...
  • ARM was already not independent, since it was owned by Softbank.

    • It really shouldn't go to nVidia on antitrust grounds.

      • "I dont want Nvidia to have ARM" is not a valid antitrust argument.

        Wheres the valid antitrust argument for Nvidia being blocked from owning ARM? I can't see one.

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 )

          Wheres the valid antitrust argument for Nvidia being blocked from owning ARM?

          Nvidia directly competes with Intel and AMD.

          Apple is making a big bet on ARM, but with its own GPU design. Nvidia could interfere with those plans.

          ARMs are used in 90% of the world's cellphones. Most do not use Nvidia GPUs. Nvidia could use ownership of ARM to crush its competitors.

          I can't see one.

          Unfog your glasses.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by q_e_t ( 5104099 )

            Nvidia directly competes with Intel and AMD.

            Apple is making a big bet on ARM, but with its own GPU design. Nvidia could interfere with those plans.

            There doesn't seem to be much value to Nvidia in doing so.

  • "will maintain Arm's open licensing model and customer neutrality... We love Arm's business model." Says Nvidia? Yeah... Sure...

  • Funny site... (Score:3, Funny)

    by m2pc ( 546641 ) on Monday September 14, 2020 @03:23PM (#60505568)
    The site has several humorous references, like this one:

    "This puts Britain in the invidious position..."

    I had to look that up as it looked suspiciously like the word "Nvidia": https://www.dictionary.com/bro... [dictionary.com]

    invidious: adjective calculated to create ill will or resentment or give offense; hateful:

    and

    "...history will remember you as the person who, when the chips are down..."

  • Independent of the USA and its interests? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Monday September 14, 2020 @03:30PM (#60505582)

    The UK is selling it's country one piece at a time. Lowering food standards, opening the NHS to the US based MIC, hell they angered the Chinese by banning Huawei a few months after approving them for use in infrastructure all based on the good word of the the bad blonde hair president club.

    At this point I'm wondering if the USA has pictures of Johnson with his Johnson somewhere it shouldn't have been. ARM not making the UK independent? At this point they may as well be the 51st state already.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      They aren't that organised. As we speak they are trying to pass a be law that will destroy any chance of doing a deal with the US.

      It's just asset stripping an entire country, that's as far as the plan goes.

    • >The UK is selling it's country one piece at a time.

      Indeed - they're selling England by the pound...

      > Lowering food standards,

      Young man says "you are what you eat, eat well"

      > opening the NHS to the US based MIC, hell they angered the Chinese by banning Huawei a few months after approving them for use in infrastructure

      Easy now, sit you down. Chewing through your Wimpey dreams, they eat without a sound; digesting England by the pound.

      >based on the good word of the the bad blonde hair president clu

    • It's not about blackmailing Johnson, that isn't necessary. Selling off local assets for short term gains is a common ploy for scoring short term points. Sometimes it's direct, in the form of something like a long-term lease of local land to a foreign party, and sometimes it's indirect, in the form of privatization of national assets or services or just taking huge loans and jacking up the deficit.

      The trick is to take credit for the short term benefit, and lay the blame for the long term costs on your pol

  • It's not "Nvidia" it's "NVIDIA". (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    It's not spelled "Nvidia". It's "NVIDIA". Ya goobers got it wrong on the other article as well.

    Personally I like "nVidia" or "nVIDIA" like the graphic logo but NVIDIA themselves use the all-caps version when using text.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by aitikin ( 909209 )

      It's not spelled "Nvidia". It's "NVIDIA". Ya goobers got it wrong on the other article as well.

      Personally I like "nVidia" or "nVIDIA" like the graphic logo but NVIDIA themselves use the all-caps version when using text.

      If you're going to be pedantic, do it right! It's spelled "nvidia" each of the times you did it, but it's stylized NVIDIA.

      Oh, and I agree with your preference on the stylizing with "nVidia."

  • Does the UK even have a say? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Guspaz ( 556486 ) on Monday September 14, 2020 @04:06PM (#60505664)

    An American company is buying a Japanese company. Yes, most of ARM's actual physical property is in the UK, but it's not a UK company, so what say would the UK have?

    For that matter, if the UK government didn't say anything when the company was sold to Japan, I don't see why they'd object to it being sold to the US.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      SoftBank have very specific assurances about ARM remaining in the UK and independent. Ultimately worthless but at least on paper...

      Nvidia will only go as far as next September, i.e. see how bad brexit is and then decide what to do.

      • Ironically the worst brexit is the more likely ARM is likely to stay in the UK. The only thing nVidia will see is cheap software engineers after exchange rates.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          It depends if Trump gets back in. Then Nvidia could come under the US rules on exporting technology and ARM could lose the Chinese market, which would be a disaster for them.

    • Re:Does the UK even have a say? (Score:4, Informative)

      by greatpatton ( 1242300 ) on Monday September 14, 2020 @04:32PM (#60505738)
      Since when the share holder of reference is dictating the company nationality? What if a company stock is equally hold by people or institution of different countries? ARM is a UK company even if the main shareholder is Japanese. ARM was never integrated inside of softbank.

  • C'mon, man. A real Brit would've appreciated the irony in that statement.

  • "US is making Britain a US vassal state." 250 years ago it was Britain making the US a British vassal state. Actually I like ARM as they are, but it is owned by a Japanese investment company that makes money selling it to the highest bidder. Let the sale begin! At least they didn't suck and sell all the value out of there business, then scuttle the company.

    • Modern times calls for modern vassals. And hey, don't flame me: I was not the one who began labelling others "vassals". Nor I was claiming others lands and lives "in the name of Her Majesty".

    • Britain didn't make the US a vassal state. It already was. It lost it as a vassal state.

      Selling to the highest bidder could still scuttle the company. There's no indication that nVidia won't just suck all the technology, sell the rest, and kill off ARM (the company). Especially if it turns out that Softbank and nVidia overvalued ARM, and nVidia needs to offset its losses from overpaying for ARM.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Cederic ( 9623 )

      Given it's bollocks, it has no feeling.

      Sorry to disappoint you.

      Not that a Japanese company selling something to a US company is a British issue anyway..

  • I don't get the sudden fear here. Nvidia isn't a massive trillion dollar conglomerate. They aren't ripping companies necks off and shitting down their throat. It's Nvidia for god's sake. Will they keep Arm in the UK forever? No, probably not. But you know what? Neither would any other company that bought them. If you want your company to be forever in your control, then never let it go public and never sell it. Otherwise, they have no one else to blame but themselves.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ffkom ( 3519199 )
      nVidia may not be as big yet, but they are as evil, at least from the perspective of other companies that licensed ARM technology in the past: https://www.semiaccurate.com/2... [semiaccurate.com]
    • of those 5 mentioned Nvidia is by far the worst in both reputation in how it treats competitors and partners and more importantly they are the one with a vested interest in moving ARM away from vendor neutrality. The only one that might arguably be worse would be Apple.

  • So...where is Intel in all of this?

  • It would make more sense to fund one or all of the Open Processor projects and replace ARM with something better.

  • Well, we still have MIPS-64, RISC-V and SPARC.

    At least China used their MIPS-64 license to build a ranking supercomputer.

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