NVIDIA eyeing takeover of ARM?

Earlier this month, a rumor emerged that SoftBank was considering a sale or IPO of its ARM holding. The Japanese firm bought the British chip designer for $32 billion in 2016 and is reportedly in the early stages of reviewing its options.

Now there's a fresh rumor from Bloomberg that NVIDIA approached SoftBank about a potential acquisition of ARM. Sources familiar with the matter indicate other potential bidders could also emerge, and that it's possible that no deal will be reached.

While ARM is an interesting takeover candidate, not a lot of companies can afford it, and a deal is also complicated by antitrust issues:

Any customer trying to acquire Arm would trigger regulatory scrutiny. Other companies using its technology would likely oppose a deal and demand assurances that a new owner would continue to provide equal access to Arm’s instruction set. Such concerns resulted in a neutral company -- SoftBank -- buying Arm the last time it was for sale.