SoftBank to acquire Ampere Computing for US$6.5B to boost AI push

US: On Wednesday (March 19), SoftBank Group said that it would acquire US chip startup Ampere Computing for US$6.5 billion (S$8.68 billion) in cash, as reported by Reuters.

Ampere, founded by former Intel president Renee James, makes central processing unit (CPU) chips for data centres using Arm Holdings’ architecture. These chips are used by companies like Oracle in their cloud systems.

SoftBank said that as part of the deal, Oracle and Carlyle Group, Ampere’s major investors, will sell their stakes in Ampere.

Ampere developed its own custom CPU technology, a move usually made by bigger companies like Apple and Qualcomm. However, Arm later became a competitor by working directly with major clients like Microsoft and Google to create custom Arm-based CPUs.

Google initially adopted Ampere’s chips but later worked with Arm to develop its own “Axon” CPU. After this, a Google executive said the company would no longer use Ampere chips.

Under SoftBank, the majority owner of Arm, Ampere will join a group of chip technology companies that are increasing their focus on artificial intelligence (AI). /TISG

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