TSMC and Foxconn reportedly considering Arm purchase

[midian182]

Why it matters: It’s the biggest question in the tech world right now: who will buy Arm? It looks as if Nvidia is leading the race to make one of the biggest acquisitions in recent years, but according to a new report, the UK chipmaker has reached out to other firms to gauge interest, including Apple suppliers Foxconn and TSMC.

It was last month when we learned that Softbank was looking to offload the company it paid $31 billion for back in 2016. The Japanese conglomerate has been selling some of its assets recently as the Coronavirus-related economic downturn bites. After holdings in Alibaba Group and T-Mobile were sold off, it was time to sell part or all of its stake in Arm—and Nvidia remains the most likely buyer.

According to a report in the Nikkei Asian Review, however, Team Green isn’t the only one in the running for Arm. According to “people familiar with the discussions,” Softbank has contacted a number of big tech players regarding a possible sale. In addition to Nvidia, the company has also approached TSMC, Foxconn, Apple, and Qualcomm.

Arm's Cambridge, UK headquarters

It appears that Softbank believes Nvidia, TSMC, and Foxconn are the most likely companies to make a move as they were sent select financial data and projections by Arm to encourage a purchase or investment. The Taiwanese giants are said to be monitoring the Nvidia talks, though both would prefer to take a stake in Arm, rather than make an outright purchase.

Softbank’s bankers have reportedly talked to Chinese companies about a deal, too, but Sino-US tensions mean any transactions are doubtful.

While Apple’s move to an Arm-based Mac might have made buying the chipmaker an enticing prospect, Cupertino is reportedly not interested, and Samsung has denied reports it was looking to take a small stake. Ultimately, it seems that Nvidia remains the most likely firm to make an acquisition, despite the objections of Arm’s co-founder.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/86265-tsmc-foxconn-reportedly-considering-arm-purchase.html

 

[Gomos]

TSMC is even scarier than Nvidia, we certainly don't want a company to become so powerful.

 

[gigantor21]

I'd like to announce that I am also in talks to purchase ARM as well.

 

[Porkous]

Most likely the best candidate is Intel. Everyone loved Intel, in laptops, in servers. Intel can't compete with itself, so they would strive to benefit for the market. On the other hand, all these candidates that act as the sum of the market, would be better by actually buying stakes, rather than taking the whole hurdle of the burden. Samsung is also a good candidate, because they got the investments to make, and are actually bigger than their smartphone business, since they are in everything.

My guess is that they are calling out all these names, in order to sell stakes... because everyone is competing with each other, so the best deal would be to take a small slice of the whole pie securing your position.

 

[fps4ever]

TSMC is even scarier than Nvidia, we certainly don't want a company to become so powerful.

Not as scary as the China controlled Foxconn. They are a huge company as well.

 

[MasterMace]

Nvidia is the least scary of the bunch, but they don't seem to want to do put the effort in. They tried making their Tegra CPUs which were a flop.

 

[mbrowne5061]

TSMC is even scarier than Nvidia, we certainly don't want a company to become so powerful.

I don't know. If TSMC bought Arm, they would turn into a third option when shopping for CPUs, instead of just being a foundry for everyone else's design. That said, it would likely spell trouble for AMD unless they opened up their own foundries.

 

[Bp968]

Not as scary as the China controlled Foxconn. They are a huge company as well.

Technically Foxconn is Taiwanese not Chinese. But that said, its still too close for comfort IMO. At least for a company as important as ARM is right now.

Personally I hope the NSA or CIA or someone else works in the background to ensure a majority stake in the company from US companies (or UK honestly). The company borders on a national security issue at this point. Honestly, WWIII happening through military arms stopped being likely years ago. Right now we are already in a pitched battle of WWIII its just that the field is economic, and technological. Solid cyber security, economic power and space security are way more important than more aircraft carriers or fancy fighter planes right now and for the foreseeable future.

 

[Evernessince]

Most likely the best candidate is Intel. Everyone loved Intel, in laptops, in servers. Intel can't compete with itself, so they would strive to benefit for the market. On the other hand, all these candidates that act as the sum of the market, would be better by actually buying stakes, rather than taking the whole hurdle of the burden. Samsung is also a good candidate, because they got the investments to make, and are actually bigger than their smartphone business, since they are in everything.

My guess is that they are calling out all these names, in order to sell stakes... because everyone is competing with each other, so the best deal would be to take a small slice of the whole pie securing your position.

"Intel can't compete with itself"

Yeah that's called a monopoly.

"so they would strive to benefit for the market."

wait give me a minute I need a breath ........

That was some good sarcasm, RIGHT!?

 

[fps4ever]

Technically Foxconn is Taiwanese not Chinese. But that said, its still too close for comfort IMO. At least for a company as important as ARM is right now.

Personally I hope the NSA or CIA or someone else works in the background to ensure a majority stake in the company from US companies (or UK honestly). The company borders on a national security issue at this point. Honestly, WWIII happening through military arms stopped being likely years ago. Right now we are already in a pitched battle of WWIII its just that the field is economic, and technological. Solid cyber security, economic power and space security are way more important than more aircraft carriers or fancy fighter planes right now and for the foreseeable future.

Thanks for the clarification. Yeah I think China will absorb them eventually.