British regulators believe that Nvidia’s acquisition of Arm has potential competition hazards

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it has conducted the second phase of investigation into Nvidia’s acquisition of Arm, and has sent a summary of the first phase of investigation results to the Minister of Digitalization, Culture, Media and Sports, Oliver Dowden. CMA is worried that Nvidia will have a huge advantage after acquiring Arm. It can weaken competitors’ ability by restricting competitors’ acquisition of Arm’s technology, which will seriously hinder market competition.

CMA head Andrea Coscelli said that the control of Arm by Nvidia may limit competitors’ access to key technologies, cause problems for competitors, and ultimately stifle innovation in the market, including data centers, games, the Internet of Things, and autonomous vehicles. This is likely to cause companies and ordinary consumers to spend more money on new products or buy lower-quality products.

The second phase of the investigation is the last review phase of the CMA. The maximum time is 24 weeks and can be extended up to 8 weeks. This means that if all goes well, CMA will announce its decision on the transaction in late February 2022. If the investigation time is extended, it will be until April 2022. In the second phase of the investigation, the CMA will conduct a more detailed assessment. If there is a possibility of severely hindering market competition, it will make a decision on the necessary remedial measures, including prohibiting transactions or requiring the sale of part of the business, etc. According to regulations, after the second phase of the investigation report is released, the CMA has a 12-week period, which can be extended by a maximum of 6 weeks to issue requirements for related follow-up measures.