ARM Co-Founder Starts 'Save Arm' Campaign To Keep Independence Amid $40 Billion Nvidia Deal (techcrunch.com) 61
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."
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."
This disingenuous fuck. (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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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)
Re: This disingenuous fuck. (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
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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
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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.
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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)
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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.
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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)
Re:handy (Score:5, Funny)
The right of the people to keep and bear ARMs shall not be infringed
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$40 billion... (Score:2)
It's not independent today (Score:2)
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It really shouldn't go to nVidia on antitrust grounds.
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"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.
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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.
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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.
Uh.. (Score:1)
Funny site... (Score:3, Funny)
I had to look that up as it looked suspiciously like the word "Nvidia": https://www.dictionary.com/bro... [dictionary.com]
and
Independent of the USA and its interests? (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
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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.
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>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
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I would give a fellow Genesis fan a modpoint if I had one :-)
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The trick is to take credit for the short term benefit, and lay the blame for the long term costs on your pol
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Lowering food standards,
Oh, fuck right off with that Corbynista lie. America's food standards are just as stringent as anyone else's, and frankly you're pretty fucking slipshod in failing to give your chicken a rinse with chlorinated water.
-jcr
If they are so stringent, why do people in the USA die of food poisoning at ten times the rate as in the UK? The level of salmonella in chicken in the UK is demonstrably far lower, for example.
Re: Independent of the USA and its interests? (Score:2)
Isn't there less salmonella because chickens in the UK are vaccinated against it? Same reason why eggs must be refrigerated in N. America, but are not in the UK.
Whereas there really are other issues, such as the US allowing chicken chlorination as a work around for poorer hygiene standards.
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Same reason why eggs must be refrigerated in N. America, but are not in the UK.
Eggs are not supposed to be kept in the fridge. I remember my grandparents had a hen for eggs and they kept the eggs in a cupboard. Remember that eggs are basically a self contained living system and can fend off decay for quite some time.
Re: Independent of the USA and its interests? (Score:2)
Ok, I did a little a search and apparently you do have to keep them in the fridge in some countries: https://www.msn.com/en-us/food... [msn.com]
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It's not "Nvidia" it's "NVIDIA". (Score:1)
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.
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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)
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.
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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.
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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)
"...is making Britain a US vassal state." (Score:2)
C'mon, man. A real Brit would've appreciated the irony in that statement.
How does it feel? (Score:1)
"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.
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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".
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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.
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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..
Nvidia isn't Google/Amazon/Microsoft/Apple etc. (Score:2)
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AMD/Radeon/x64 vs Nvidia/GeForce/ARM ? (Score:2)
So...where is Intel in all of this?
Rather fund Open RISC or Open Processor (Score:2)
We still have MIPS-64, RISC-V and SPARC (Score:2)
Well, we still have MIPS-64, RISC-V and SPARC.
At least China used their MIPS-64 license to build a ranking supercomputer.