Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, wearing his usual leather jacket.
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LONDON – The UK competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority, announced on Wednesday that it plans to investigate Nvidia’s acquisition of British chip designer Arm.
Nvidia announced plans to buy SoftBank’s Cambridge-based company for $ 40 billion last September and critics have asked governments and regulators to investigate the deal since then.
The CMA said it is inviting third parties to give their opinion on how the deal will affect competition in the UK before launching a formal investigation later this year.
“The chip technology industry is worth billions and is critical for many of the products we use most in our daily lives,” said Andrea Coscelli, CMA’s chief executive, in a statement.
“We will work closely with other competition authorities around the world to carefully consider the impact of the business and ensure that it does not result in products that are more expensive or of lower quality to consumers,” added Coscelli.
With 6,500 employees, including 3,000 in the UK, Arm is widely considered to be the crown jewel of the British technology industry. Its chips power most of the world’s smartphones, as well as many other devices.
Arm Chief Executive Simon Segars told CNBC in December that he expects regulators to “get a good look” at the deal.
“There are regulatory approvals in many jurisdictions around the world,” said Segars last month. “This is a time-consuming process. There needs to be a lot of interaction with regulators to provide the information they want.”
When the acquisition was announced, Nvidia and Arm said they hoped to complete the deal in early 2022.
Two British technology investors predicted last October that the acquisition will be blocked.
Nvidia did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.