UK competition authority to probe NVIDIA’s takeover of Arm

The competition watchdog has issued an early opportunity for interested third parties to comment on the impact that the takeover could have on competition in the UK, in advance of the investigation starting later this year. The CMA says it will look at the deal’s possible effect on competition in the UK. The CMA says it "is likely to consider whether, following the takeover, Arm has an incentive to withdraw, raise prices or reduce the quality of its IP licensing services to NVIDIA’s rivals". “The chip technology industry is worth billions and critical to many of the products that we use most in our everyday lives. We will work closely with other competition authorities around the world to carefully consider the impact of the deal and ensure that it doesn’t ultimately result in consumers facing more expensive or lower quality products,” says Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, in a press release. The CMA’s sole focus is to assess the potential impact of a merger on competition, it cannot consider other potential effects that a merger might have, for example on employment or industrial strategy. Any national security concerns would be a matter for the UK Government, which can issue a public interest intervention notice, if appropriate.