Bloomberg News reportedSoftBank previously announced$65 billion acquisition of Ampere Computing, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched a "Phase II investigation", which means that this merger and acquisition may face a long review, and there is even a risk that the merger and acquisition approval will be rejected.
The FTC's Phase II request for information is a relatively rare investigative process at the federal level, in-depth into potential antitrust risks. Once initiated, this investigation can take several months, sometimes even over a year, and may even lead to legal proceedings to block the transaction.
Neither SoftBank nor Ampere Computing has commented on the rumors of the investigation.
SoftBank's acquisition faces regulatory challenges again, and Arm's experience may repeat itself.
SoftBank acquired Arm for $2016 billion in 320, and its subsequent acquisition of Ampere Computing was seen as a strategic addition to bolstering its AI chip R&D efforts. Since its founding in 2018, Ampere Computing has focused on cloud-native computing and has recently expanded into AI chip design.
If the case passes review smoothly, SoftBank will control Arm, Graphcore and Ampere Computing, three companies with influence in the development of artificial intelligence chips. However, this may also raise concerns among regulators about the market competition structure.
When SoftBank previously resold Arm to NVIDIA, it was due to similar antitrust investigation issues and was eventually blocked by US and European regulators in 2022.
Stargate and Qualcomm lawsuits pile up, increasing pressure on SoftBank bulls
In addition to the challenges faced in the Ampere Computing transaction, SoftBank has also encountered obstacles in many of its recent layouts.
For example, SoftBank-ledLarge-scale artificial intelligence supercomputer project "Stargate"Currently, progress is slower than expected due to the impact of US tariffs. Meanwhile, SoftBank's Arm is embroiled in disputes with Qualcomm over licensing models and market monopoly in Europe, the US, and South Korea.
It's unclear whether the U.S. Federal Trade Commission will block SoftBank's acquisition of Ampere Computing. However, as the global AI chip war heats up, the success or failure of this deal will clearly impact SoftBank's next phase of global AI development.
