SOFTBANK Group and its majority-owned Arm Holdings are exploring a deal for Ampere Computing, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Ampere, the Oracle-backed semiconductor designer, has drawn takeover interest from Arm while exploring its strategic options, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private.
Talks could still fall apart, the sources cautioned. It’s also possible Ampere could end up being bought by another suitor.
Ampere, which designs semiconductors that use Arm’s technology, was valued at US$8 billion in a proposed minority investment by Japan’s SoftBank in 2021, Bloomberg News reported at the time. It could not be learned 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.
Ampere has been working with a financial adviser to help field takeover interest, Bloomberg News reported in September. The Santa Clara, California-based company’s interest in a deal with a larger player in the industry suggests that it did not see an easy path to an initial public offering (IPO).
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A deal for Ampere, whose early backers also include Carlyle Group, would add to a wave of chip companies looking to capitalise on an artificial intelligence (AI) spending boom. Oracle said last year that it owns 29 per cent of the startup and can exercise future investments options that would give it control of the chipmaker.
Though Ampere stands to benefit from the continuing AI frenzy, the market has grown more competitive, with several large tech companies rushing to develop the same kinds of chips that Ampere makes. While there’s a huge interest in control of key components as the data centre industry retools for the AI age, Ampere, such as larger rivals Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, is having to respond to a shift in spending away from central processor units, or CPUs, towards Nvidia’s accelerator chips.
Ampere makes processors for data centre machinery using Arm’s technology. Arm is increasingly moving from being a licenser of fundamental standards and basic blueprints to more of a complete chipmaker. The addition of Ampere’s engineers, many who worked for Intel’s former industry-leading server chip unit, might add expertise and impetus to chief executive officer Rene Haas’ push into that market.
Ampere founder and CEO Renee James, a former Intel executive, had eyed taking Ampere public. The company said in April 2022 that it had filed confidentially for a US IPO, at a time when demand for chips was surging.
A sale of Ampere would continue a run of semiconductor deals. Global deals involving chip companies more than doubled last year to over US$31 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. BLOOMBERG
