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The ‘Deal of the Century’ in the global semiconductor industry has been completed. Nvidia, the number one semiconductor company in the US market capitalization, has become the new owner of ARM, the number one company in global semiconductor design source technology. With this, NVIDIA has become a company that has taken the lead in core chips from smartphones to data centers. There is also concern that the MRA, which had maintained political neutrality, could be transferred to the United States and used as a “weapon” for the conflict between the United States and China.
● Smart phone brain 95% monopoly ARM and NVIDIA products
On the 13th (local time), NVIDIA announced the final agreement to acquire ARM from Softbank. The acquisition amount is $ 40 billion (about 47.6 trillion won), the largest in the history of mergers and acquisitions in the global semiconductor industry.
Founded in 1990, the British company ARM supplies design technology for 95% of the world’s application processors (APs). The AP chip that actually runs various programs on a smartphone is called the “brain of a smartphone.” ARM has this AP chip and artificial intelligence (AI). The original technology essential to design various semiconductors used in the Internet of Things (IoT) and tablets has been supplied to semiconductor design and production companies regardless of their nationality and companies such as Samsung Electronics, Qualcomm, Apple and Huawei.
Nvidia, which used to make the graphics processing unit (GPU) the main focus, has become one of the most powerful semiconductor companies in the world with the acquisition of ARM. Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, told an online conference that “in the future, many computers running AI will create an IoT system that is thousands of times larger than today’s Internet.” It will be the cornerstone. “” We will move beyond smartphones and self-driving cars to IoT based on the broad application field of ARM technology. “Major foreign media also announced the era of Nvidia. On this day, the The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in the United States said, “(Today) most people cannot go a single day without NVIDIA or ARM-based products.” The Financial Times said: “Nvidia has become a semiconductor company that has taken the lead in all technologies, from mobile devices to data centers. “
● Will NVIDIA become a competitor to Samsung?
When Softbank President Son Jeong-eui succeeded in acquiring ARM in 2016, ARM was still recognized as an independent company. However, this time around, there are many concerns that Apple, an ARM customer, and Nvidia, a rival to Qualcomm, have become the new owners, and that Nvidia is an American company that is in a technology war with China.
The Financial Times reported that “the geopolitical conflict between Washington and Beijing could expose the British ARM to sanctions.” Arm co-founder Hermann Hauser has addressed concerns directly to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. On the 10th of this month (local time), the Labor Party, an opposition party in the United Kingdom, voiced its opposition to the sale, citing the problem of job loss that could occur if ARM were acquired by an American company. .
CEO Hwang said: “We will maintain ARM’s existing open licensing system and deliver it to any customer in the world in the future. In the UK and elsewhere, we will increase the employment of technicians and invest in R&D.” It will increase even more. ”
Although this is an M&A of the century, it is expected that there will be many steps to overcome, such as the approval of the regulatory authorities of each country before its completion. NVIDIA said: “We expect the transaction to be completed in about 18 months.”
The domestic semiconductor industry is also paying close attention to the impact of these mergers and acquisitions. From Samsung Electronics’ perspective, the risk may be less than that of a direct competitor like Apple to acquire ARM. Recently, Nvidia entrusted the consignment production of new GPU products to Samsung Electronics. However, with the acquisition of ARM, Nvidia is trying to expand its reach beyond the GPU to the entire technology market, so there is a great possibility of becoming a strong competitor in the long term.
An official from the semiconductor industry said: “ARM has focused solely on the original semiconductor design technology and has not jumped directly into design or production. With the acquisition of Nvidia, there is no possibility of designing and producing APs directly in the long term. “Nvidia is now emerging as a potential competitor to Samsung.”
Reporter Kwak Do-young [email protected] Go to reporter page>
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