Nvidia Is Reportedly Interested in Acquiring Arm

SoftBank is exploring a sale or IPO for Arm, the British chip design firm it acquired for $32 billion in 2016. Nvidia has emerged as a potential suitor, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

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Arm designs blueprints for chip architectures and licenses the IP to manufacturers. You can find Arm designs in nearly every smartphone on Earth.

SoftBank isfacing pressure from activist investors to increase liquidity, so it’s offloading assets, including stakes in Alibaba and T-Mobile. WeWork will do that to ya. In addition, the Japanese conglomerate has realized Arm isn’t critical to Masayoshi Son’s sweeping vision of an artificially intelligent future.

Nvidia, which is on a cloud- and AI-driven winning streak, would gain control of a key R&D player in the semiconductor value chain if it bought Arm. Intel, Qualcomm, AMD, and other Nvidia competitors are Arm licensees.

Regulators know what I just wrote. Before Nvidia could grow a new Arm, the acquisition would be heavily scrutinized and possibly blocked. An IPO may be more feasible: It could be worth $44 billion if it goes public, and $68 billion by 2025, per New Street Research.