Nvidia will abandon the acquisition of Arm, and the chip industry's biggest deal has collapsed

According to foreign media reports, people familiar with the matter revealed that Nvidia will make concessions to regulatory opposition and abandon the acquisition of Arm from SoftBank Group, which will end the deal that could have become the largest in the chip industry.

(Image source: NVIDIA)

According to the above-mentioned people familiar with the matter, SoftBank now plans to continue to advance Arm's initial public offering (IPO), which is expected to take place in the fiscal year ending March 2023.

It was also revealed that Arm CEO Simon Segars has left and handed over his position to the company's president, Rene Haas. However, one of the people familiar with the matter said that the move had nothing to do with Nvidia's failure to acquire Arm. Segars was one of Arm's first employees and became CEO in 2013. He continued to lead the company after SoftBank acquired Arm in 2016.

The Financial Times earlier reported that Nvidia's acquisition of Arm failed on Feb. 7. But last month, Bloomberg reported that Nvidia was preparing to close the deal. SoftBank and Arm have the right to keep the $2 billion Nvidia paid at the time of signing, including a $1.25 billion "break-up fee." Nvidia, Arm and SoftBank spokespeople declined to comment.

Still, the troubled Arm deal didn't have much impact on Nvidia's stock price, which has risen more than 80 percent over the past year, even after the recent plunge. Nvidia is known for producing video game 3D graphics processors and is the chip company with the highest market capitalization in the United States.