United States of America: FTC files complaint to block Nvidia/Arm merger

On 2 December 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit to block NVIDIA's planned acquisition of Arm Ltd. The FTC alleges that the merger could negatively impact the competition and innovation in the semiconductor industry. The company Arm licenses the intellectual property (IP) on processing units to developers of semiconductor chipmakers and systems-on-chip. NVIDIA develops graphics processing units and system on chip units for data centres, automotive applications and gaming. According to the FTC, if Arm were to be acquired, NVIDIA could restrict the access to the Arm’s technology to its rivals and obtain sensitive information regarding the licensees that Arm provided to NVIDIA’s competitors. The trial is set to begin on 9 August 2022.