Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

UK Chip Designer ARM to Be Acquired by Japan's Softbank for $31.4B

Gasu E. said:
Goshalmighty! I've seen people suggest the SEC, FTC, or FCC would come down on an Apple acquisition.

FYI: in the USA, it's the DOJ Anti-Trust Division that prevents monopolistic mergers and acquisitions.

How d'you like them acronyms?
Click to expand...

I don't know, I'm not American.
 
scaramoosh said:
Sucks for the uk, I wish everything would stop leaving for the east. The government should have blocked it because this is only bad news for the London stock.
Click to expand...

"Following the announcement of today's deal, ARM said it would keep its headquarters in Cambridge and double the number of its staff over the next five years. Softbank also intends to preserve the UK tech firm's organization, including its existing senior management structure and partnership-based business model."
 
cableguy84 said:
The french, and other countries in europe have stopped multiple takeovers from happening in the past
Click to expand...

The UK has nixed Puregym's merger with Thegymgroup and the EU has blocked 3's takeover of O2 fairly recently. Monopoly was cited as the reason for both. Puregym and its target only operate within the UK. If Apple tried to take over ARM, the EU would probably get involved given the international ramifications.
 
MH01 said:
We also have the people who believe Apple produces these ARM chips themselves that are designed by Apple.

At some point the pin will drop that Apple only designs the chips based on ARM architecture and has Samsung and TSMC produce them...but apart from that, it's all Apple produced and owned :p

A relationship that benefits Apple, ARM and the suppliers
Click to expand...

My gawd you people are dense. Apple does design their own chips from scratch, but you have to base them on a micro architecture instruction set like ARM or x86. Saying Apple doesn't design their own chips is like saying AMD doesn't design their own chips.
 
  • Like
Reactions: John Mcgregor and peteo
apple designs their own chips based on ARM designs they licensed. ARM does not design apples chips
 
Apple, and frankly everyone else, design and/or use ARM-based/compatible chips. A couple of these companies use them untouched, others manufacture them too, Apple doesn't (even) do that (and rightfully so, it doesn't have to). ARM gets most of their money (1b revenue, 500m profit) out of licenses. It has been a huge success because they had the better product/design when the landscape of computing and telecommunications started to change. And, unlike Intel, they didn't even have to use FUD, overspend on marketing, or employ monopolistic practices in order to force the industry use their chips. Comparing the significance of such an acquisition with Beats is just inappropriate. Nevertheless, I am happy ARM didn't go to Apple/Intel/Google/Samsung/etc.
 
Last edited:
cableguy84 said:
The french, and other countries in europe have stopped multiple takeovers from happening in the past
Click to expand...

(a) The French have a far more interventionist/protectionist business policy than the UK or US (and a casual attitude to following EU rules).

(b) Takeover blocks are normally done on the grounds of protecting consumer choice or preventing a near-monopoly: for example, when two of the four UK mobile phone networks wanted to merge, there was a strong argument that it would "reduce customer choice and raise prices." (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36266924).

If ARM were being taken over by Intel (shudder!) there might be a case that they were forming an unhealthy monopoly. "Waaah! we really liked having a major technology company owned by Brits" is not (currently) a legal reason to block it.

Also: its politically a double edged sword: SoftBank have promised to keep the HQ in the UK and double the number of employees, so currently the govt. are spinning this as a vote of international confidence in the UK.
 
teknishn said:
My gawd you people are dense. Apple does design their own chips from scratch, but you have to base them on a micro architecture instruction set like ARM or x86. Saying Apple doesn't design their own chips is like saying AMD doesn't design their own chips.
Click to expand...

You are a bit late to the party, already been covered . Cheers for the personal insult ;) and good day to you.
 
Ihatefall said:
lol Japan is just good at the cover up. I have lived in Japan for years, Japanese companies don't really have a history of doing the right thing.

Also as a former SoftBank customer I can say that they are the worst IMO of the big 3 in Japan. This probably isn't a good thing for anyone but the people selling.


My guess is that they are going to try to make their own phones in the future. Japanese carriers have a history of that. So much so that each carrier used to have its own unique charge port. You used to have to go to the store and buy a "SoftBank charger" or A "docomo charger". It was ugly
Click to expand...

Completely agree - I have lived in Japan for years too AND softy is going down the drain ! Charges at their core business Softbank mobile have been going up and up so left them for a MVNO as did many other people. They have let their core business slide and it is suffering plus they took on too much buying up Sprint (the American carrier) - and that hasnt gone well.....
 
scaramoosh said:
Sucks for the uk, I wish everything would stop leaving for the east. The government should have blocked it because this is only bad news for the London stock.
Click to expand...
It's Japan not china though i feel like they're in a different game. The UK can make more new companies though. We just need to convince the gov to invest more in education and research so we can build some next level new ****. I feel like increasing tuition fees and declining funding in science and research are causing much more damage than the sale of companies like these.
 
Apple likes to control (not necessarily own) the technologies they use and was probably very comfortable with the current setting, they had access to the ARM ISA for a reasonable amount and got to follow the industry standard while having the flexibility to go the extra mile with their own design teams. So it made no sense to buy ARM, they would have dried it out

Having ARM controlled by a carrier is probably going to make alarms go off at Cupertino. They will surely look into all their options such as going x86 or doing some sort of fork of the ARM ISA (I don't even know if their license allows for that)
 
orandaadnaro said:
When Cadbury's was bought up recently by some foreign investor they stated to the Government committee involved, that the Company would stay based in the UK and that jobs were secure. Now they produce the majority of the product line in easter europe and the traditional Burnsville site is being left to flounder.

ARM was the jewel in the crown for the UK IT industry, and no doubt now it will be bled dry and end up as past of some faceless international conglomerate. Promises are easily broken when money talks.

Such a shame. Steve Jobs must be turning in his grave.
Click to expand...


All true. BUT the most important thing here is the talent (the workforce) that made ARM so successful will most likely remain in the UK. You can move a company overseas, but you can't make the staff go with it!
 
timber said:
Having ARM controlled by a carrier is probably going to make alarms go off at Cupertino. They will surely look into all their options such as going x86 or doing some sort of fork of the ARM ISA (I don't even know if their license allows for that)
Click to expand...

I doubt this will affect Apple at all. And apparently Apple has already "forked" ARMv8, as there are some "extras" in Apples version that are not part of ARMv8.
[doublepost=1468857529][/doublepost]
grad said:
Apple (and frankly everyone else) designs ARM-based/compatible chips.
Click to expand...

That's not entirely accurate. Most of the ARM processors out there are using ARM designs (A15, A53, A57, A72). The companies using these designs (Samsung, Qualcomm, Mediatek) aren't designing anything at all - they're just using a ready-made processor designed by ARM.

The Exynos 8890 from Samsung is their first using custom cores (the M1) and the 820 from Qualcomm is using their custom Kyro cores. These would be considered processors that are actually designed by Samsung/Qualcomm. Prior to these they didn't design anything (they all used ARM reference core designs - although Qualcomm did "tweak" these to make a semi-custom processor with the Krait).
 
John Mcgregor said:
Yes, but why would Apple buy them. Hypothetically speaking.
Click to expand...

its just a gut reaction a lot of "fanboys" on the forums make everytime there's a story like this. "Apple should have bought them!".

in this case, it wouldn't make a lot of sense. Apple already gets what they need out of ARM (ISA license) which costs them significantly less than 34b.

The only logical reason for buying ARM by Apple would be an anti-competitive move to lockout other ARM manufacturers. While APple HAS done this in the past, I doubt something like that would fly with government watchdogs for something that is considered so integral to the entire industry. ARM is found in a LOT more things than just smartphones.
 
  • Like
Reactions: John Mcgregor
Zirel said:
Only Apple has Apple chips to put in their products and sell, so they are technically produced by Apple.
Click to expand...

That isn't how it works :p

But if you want to get pedantic

"Manufactured".

TMSC and Samsung have been historically licensed to manufacture Apple's Designed processors bsaed on ISA licensed from ARM.
 
EricTheHalfBee said:
I doubt this will affect Apple at all. And apparently Apple has already "forked" ARMv8, as there are some "extras" in Apples version that are not part of ARMv8.
Click to expand...
While I agree with you I doubt that Apple will let this pass without having or doubling down on some sort of alternative plan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back