SoftBank to Buy UK Chip Designer ARM in $32 Billion Cash Deal
SoftBank Group Corp has agreed to buy UK chip designer ARM Holdings PLC in a 24.3 billion pound ($32.2 billion) deal, the two companies said on Monday, in an ambitious bet on mobile internet that will transform the Japanese tech group.
ARM, the most valuable tech company listed in London by market value, is a major presence in mobile processing, with its processor and graphics technology used by Samsung, Huawei and Apple in their in-house designed microchips.
The Cambridge-based group also stands to be central to the tech industry's shift to the 'internet of things' - a network of devices, vehicles and building sensors that collect and exchange data - a focus for SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son.
Monday's deal, Softbank's largest to date, marks a departure for the Japanese group, wh...