SoftBank makes bid to acquire ARM


Ars Technica:

UK chip designer ARM has agreed to a whopping buyout offer from Japanese telecoms giant SoftBank for £24.3 billion (~$32 billion)--the deal comes just weeks after Brits voted to exit the European Union.

SoftBank said it would retain ARM's senior management team, brand, and lucrative partnership-based business model.

Other reports have suggested Apple and Intel may make a bid in hopes of swaying shareholders, but it appears the SoftBank deal is pretty far along.

Based on reports, SoftBank is interested in ARM's strategic position as more and more things have embedded CPUs. It stands to reason that customers like Apple should expect business as usual.

It would make sense for Intel to want to acquire ARM as it to date it's losing the mobile CPU race. Apple would be a little weirder because while it obviously relies heavily on ARM, Apple is only a part of ARM's business. I wouldn't see Apple licensing to countless vendors and that would be a very big price to acquire ARM just for itself. An Intel-Apple deal though might be interesting.