I wrote about Nvidia’s huge acquisition of ARM that is set to be a multi-billion dollar move that will probably see the company become top dog in SoC manufacturing and other technology areas ove time. As a US based company, certain tech companies in the world are no pushing back as there are certain implications that could arise out of this deal. We are of course talking about Chinese companies that continue to feel the brunt of the trade war between the US and China. It comes as no surprise that there would be a lobby to either block or impose clauses of the sale where China may end up losing access to the world’s cutting edge technologies. As much as companies may try to push for in-house developments, the loss of ARM products will be a huge and perhaps killing blow to Chinese companies.
Should Chinese companies be worried about further losses with technology moving to the US? I believe so, and it’s only natural to see such a move. Companies such as Huawei have been a hot topic for many reasons. They’ve not had a great few years with the Google ban on the international front but their devices still perform well on paper. What happens if their supply of semiconductor and cutting edge tech gets cut? Well, it could be disastrous and a major blow in an ongoing race towards tech superiority. The deal is still set for regulation but there is a good chance that the acquisition will go through and this most likely has various tech firms hot under the collar.
Now comes an interesting part of regulation as various parts of the world oversee the sale and it’s expected that China will try to leverage this to protect its own interests. While it’s not clear what exactly will be proposed, there are a number of options that China could impose including favourable licensing terms to get a one up and shield tech companies from potential disadvantage in the future. One thing is for certain, this deal is a long way from completion and isn’t expected to clear later into 2022. So I will be keeping a close eye on what emerges from all of this, ARM has been a pivotal branch of technology development and it seems Nvidia’s involvement is set to cause some turbulence in the years to come.
