SoftBank-owned Arm is considering acquiring semiconductor design company Ampere Computing.

According to sources familiar with the matter, SoftBank Group and its subsidiary Arm Holdings are studying the acquisition of Ampere Computing LLC. Sources said that while the semiconductor design company Ampere, supported by Oracle Corporation, is exploring strategic options, it has also attracted the interest of Arm in terms of acquisition. Sources warned that the negotiations could still fall apart. Ampere may also end up being acquired by another company. It was reported that in 2021, SoftBank of Japan proposed a minority stake investment in Ampere, valuing it at $8 billion. Ampere's semiconductors are designed using Arm's technology. It is not yet clear what valuation SoftBank, Arm, and Ampere are discussing. Media reports in September last year stated that Ampere has been working with a financial adviser to attract potential buyers. The California-based company is interested in partnering with larger companies in the industry, indicating that it does not find the initial public offering (IPO) route easy. Last year, Oracle Corporation stated that it owns 29% of the shares in this startup and has the option to exercise future investment choices in order to gain control of this chip manufacturer. Early supporters of Ampere also include the Carlyle Group Inc. Despite Ampere's potential to benefit from the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) craze, the market competition is intensifying, with several major tech companies rushing to develop chips similar to Ampere's. As the data center industry undergoes restructuring to prepare for the AI era, there is a strong interest in controlling key components, but like larger competitors Intel Corporation and AMD, Ampere also has to deal with the trend towards spending on NVIDIA Corporation's accelerator chips instead of central processing units (CPUs). Ampere's founder and CEO, former Intel Corporation executive Renee James, has considered taking Ampere public. The company stated in April 2022 that it had secretly submitted an application for listing in the United States, at a time when demand for chips was soaring. The Ampere deal will add fuel to the semiconductor transaction frenzy. According to Bloomberg's data compilation, global transactions involving chip companies more than doubled last year, exceeding $310 billion.