Arm Co-Founder: Nvidia Sale Is Because Softbank Over-Invested In Firm

Co-founder and ex-president of Arm Holdings Tudor Brown says that SoftBank's projected sale of the chip company to Nvidia is the result of a bungled business strategy that saw the fund throw too much money at Arm and prioritize the wrong business areas. NS Tech reports: "In my opinion, they put too much money into it, spent money on things that clearly -- in my opinion -- weren't going make money in the short term, and now, suddenly, they're saying, 'Oh, dear me, this company isn't performing very well,'" says Brown. He added that "[SoftBank] invested too heavily [...], threw too much money at it and haven't got a good return as a result." Brown laments the potential purchase, saying that it would fundamentally clash with Arm's underlying business model. Because the firm designs technology that is sold or licensed to a great number of companies, Arm's business model requires it remaining on good terms with "an unholy clan of competitors," according to Brown. Brown says Nvidia or any other semiconductor company owning Arm is "immediately going to upset that balance and make it very, very difficult for other companies to feel that they have equal access to the technology." Brown says he can't imagine why a company would want to buy Arm if it wasn't seeking to give itself an unfair advantage such as "early access" or to "deprive the other guys from having whatever innovations were to take place." Another Arm co-founder, Hermann Hauser, told the BBC that the UK government should intervene to help the firm go public and remain an independent British company.

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