FTC’s Move to Block Major Nvidia-Arm Chip Merger Serves Notice to Wall Street Raiders

Open Markets’ recent analysis of the semiconductor industry provides critical background to the importance of the FTC lawsuit

WASHINGTON— The Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday evening that it is suing to block Nvidia, which produces chips, from merging with Arm, a British company which licenses chip technology. In doing so, the FTC moved to stop one of the largest ever mergers among semiconductor corporations.

The investment management firm, SoftBank, based in Japan, which acquired Arm in 2016 for $31 billion, stood to gain the most from the proposed merger. 

Just yesterday, Open Markets reporter Garphil Julien, published, “To Fix the Supply Chain Mess, Take on Wall Street,” an in-depth article in The Washington Monthly. Julien’s work strongly indicted Wall Street financiers for destroying America’s decades-long leadership in semiconductor design and manufacturing, in ways that make all Americans more vulnerable to supply chain crises and shortages, and to potential coercion by foreign powers.

In response to the FTC’s announcement, Barry Lynn, Executive Director of Open Markets, issued the following statement: 

“Today the Federal Trade Commission, under Lina Khan’s leadership, took a first step to rebuilding the semiconductor industry of the United States and Europe by blocking a dangerous merger between two of the world’s largest semiconductor corporations. 

“The move helps to establish a framework and set a tone for other law enforcers in the U.S. and Europe, and delivers notice to Wall Street raiders that they will no longer be permitted to extract wealth from - and destroy the skills and capacities - of vital industrial firms. 

“The unanimous vote by the FTC demonstrates the leadership abilities of Chair Khan, and the commitment of all members of the commission to ensuring the resiliency and robustness of this industry that is so essential to the security of our nation, and to our ability to design and manufacture the products we will need to build a better future. All of us at Open Markets applaud this clear, strong, swift action to protect America and the world against the extreme and growing dangers posed by Wall Street driven monopolization.”

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