After Nvidia's failed acquisition, SoftBank is still looking for a way to offload ARM, and Qualcomm is the main potential buyer.
But Qualcomm will not overtly acquire ARM. Especially after the planned acquisition of ARM by Nvidia was blocked by regulators in various countries, as quoted by GSM Arena, Monday (6/6/2022).
So a direct acquisition is definitely not an option, Qualcomm is likely to use a different tactic. Namely using a consortium of companies that will each get a small portion of ARM's shares.
"You will need a lot of companies to participate so they will have the effect of making ARM independent," said Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon.
Previously, Qualcomm was one of the companies that strongly opposed Nvidia's acquisition of ARM. Their argument at that time was that ARM was a very crucial technology company for many other companies.
If ARM is owned by one of the chipmakers, it will have a bad impact on its competitors. However, if the shares are owned by many companies, then the bad impact can be eliminated.
It has not been revealed which companies will be involved in the consortium. However, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has previously mentioned that Intel will support such a consortium.
Gelsinger met with Samsung boss Lee Jae-yong, who reportedly discussed such a collaboration. Park Jung-ho, co-CEO of SK Hynix - a Korean chipmaker - has also mentioned the formation of a consortium.
But on the other hand, SoftBank is currently also planning to sell ARM to the public, aka conducting an initial public offering (IPO), but they still hold a controlling stake in ARM.