Apple to aquire ARM? Not likely, says ARM CEO

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Word surfaced last night that Apple could be considering a buyout of ARM -- a rumor that spiked the chipmaker's share price to an eight-year high. The buzz is at least partially spurred by Apple's recent record-breaking quarterly financial results. Cupertino has $41.7 billion stashed away, and with ARM's value at around $8 billion, an acquisition would deplete some 20% of the company's reserves.

While there has been no official confirmation or denial, ARM CEO Warren East all but dismissed the move, saying it wouldn't be wise from an economic standpoint. Though excited to see share prices soar, East noted that his company's standard business model is an excellent way for others to access ARM's technology for a fraction of the cost. "Nobody has to buy the company," said East.

Money aside, many have questioned the legality of such a deal, considering the number of Apple's competitors (LG, Nokia, Samsung, and others) that use ARM's technology.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/38691-apple-to-aquire-arm-not-likely-says-arm-ceo.html

 

[poundsmack]

there are several reasons why Apple might not actually end up owning ARM.

For one thing, there are too many other influential companies – folks like Google, LG, Marvell , Nokia and Samsung – who depend on ARM's technology to run their businesses, and they are sure to start a bidding war if they believe ARM is in play. Those companies might not have as much cash as Apple, but they can raise a stink.

And then there are the regulators. With so many companies threatened by the prospect of Apple buying ARM, some regulator somewhere would certainly argue that a sale would be bad for competition in the global mobile market. If they allowed Apple to buy ARM at all, I imagine they would demand assurances that ARM technology would continue to be available to Apple's competitors under decent licensing terms.

Bottom line: It's easy to see why Apple might want ARM, harder to imagine a deal going through. Can you imagine Steve Jobs owning the intellectual property behind the world's cell phone chips, and happily licensing it to competitors who are building phones with Google and Microsoft (MSFT)? Me either.

 

[ET3D]

I said so on another site, but IMO Via is a more reasonable buyout target for Apple than either AMD or ARM. I'd probably cost in the same ballpark as ARM, much less than AMD, and it has both graphics, x86, chipset expertise and IP. Graphics could be used to replace external IP such as Imagination Technologies', and x86 IP even if not used could probably be leveraged against Intel.