NVIDIA is reported to have sounded out SoftBank on acquiring a stake in British chipmaker Arm. If this pans out, it could be one of the biggest chip deal in the industry.

According to Bloomberg sources, SoftBank is looking at divesting part or all of its shares or taking Arm public. It bought the British chipmaker for US$32 billion in 2016.

Besides NVIDIA, it seems like the chip maker has other suitors.

acquisition history

As one of the technology companies that has continued to thrive even during the pandemic, NVIDIA is known to acquire companies that fit its ecosystem.

In April, it completed the US$7 billion purchase of high-speed interconnect provider Mellanox Technologies. Past acquisitions include PGI, a software development tool maker (2013), Ageia, developer of the PhysX physics engine and physics processing unit (2008), PortalPlayer, a fabless semicoductor maker (2007), Hybrid Graphics (2006), and ULI Electronics (2005).