Nvidia’s takeover of Arm dealt blow by EU

The European Union has extended its antitrust investigation into Nvidia’s takeover of Arm by four months, Reuters reports. The review was scheduled to be completed by 27 October, but that deadline has been pushed back after concessions offered by the companies failed to address competition concerns.

Arm has long been a neutral player licensing intellectual property to the semiconductor industry. Chipmakers worry that Nvidia will get early access to Arm’s designs and that confidential information will be relayed to Nvidia through dealings with Arm. Nvidia has made assurances that these fears are unfounded.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) already launched an in-depth review of the deal. “We’re concerned that Nvidia controlling Arm could create real problems for Nvidia’s rivals by limiting their access to key technologies, and ultimately stifling innovation across a number of important and growing markets,” said Andrea Coscelli, head of the CMA.