Nvidia Corp, the US chipmaking giant, is set to abandon its attempt to buy the UK’s ARM Holdings, according to reports today.
The US company does not expect the US$40bn deal to buy ARM from current owner Softbank to complete, sources from within told Bloomberg.
Japanese tech investor Softbank meanwhile is preparing to float ARM as an alternative way to realise all or part of its investment.
Competitors have been vocally critical of the deal, which they argue will give Nvidia a stranglehold of several key areas of development in the mobile phone and laptop markets.
ARM supplies power chips to virtually all of the world’s mobile phone groups and the purchase is under regulatory scrutiny in the US, European Union and the UK, where a potential risk to national security has also been raised as a reason to look into the deal.
A change in management at the US Justice Department Antitrust Division meanwhile is likely to mean more deals being blocked than allowed with changes as in previous cases.
Arm said it looked at an IPO last year but concluded this would hinder its progress its chief executive said at the time.