Arm co-founder: Nvidia takeover would create another US tech monopoly

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UK should intervene to stop sale of Cambridge-based chip designer, says entrepreneur

www.theguardian.com, Oct. 12, 2020 – 

The co-founder of Arm has said that if the government does not stop the $40bn (£31bn) takeover of the British chip designer, its proposed buyer, Nvidia, will become the next US tech monopoly alongside companies such as Google and Facebook.

Detailing his concerns in a letter to the House of Commons foreign affairs committee, Hermann Hauser said that a deal would end Arm's position as the "Switzerland of the semiconductor industry".

Arm, which employs 6,500 staff, including 3,000 in the UK, is a global leader in designing chips for smartphones, computers and tablets.

"There is not a single important semiconductor company in the world which does not have an Arm licence," said Hauser. "Nvidia has an opportunity to become the quasi monopoly supplier of microprocessors to the world. This [deal] will give Nvidia a dominant position in all processor segments and create another US technology monopoly which has created so much angst in Britain when the country worries about the surreptitiously controlling influence Google, Facebook, Netflix and Amazon has on the UK economy."

Hauser argued that because Nvidia is one of more than 500 Arm licensees worldwide, becoming the Cambridge-based business's parent company will destroy its "even-handed" model and ultimately kill the world-leading British tech firm.

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