The chip industry is breathing a sigh of relief over the aborted purchase of Arm Ltd. by U.S. chipmaker Nvidia Corp., but the firms and their shareholders have been left with challenges the deal would have addressed.
Announced in 2020, Nvidia's plan to buy U.K. firm Arm from SoftBank Group Corp. was seen as worth up to $80 billion. The move sparked an immediate backlash, prompting concerns the deal might violate Arm's status as a neutral player in the hypercompetitive chip sector.
Many analysts had warned the deal was "doomed from the start," due to anti-competitive regulatory concerns and geopolitical tensions.