Arm co-founder launched the “Save Arm” initiative and called the British Prime Minister for help

After Nvidia announced a high-profile deal with SoftBank to spend $40 billion to acquire Arm, it once again aroused the anger and concern of Arm co-founder Hermann Hauser.

Hauser said that the sale of Arm to NVIDIA completely destroyed the foundation of Arm’s original business model and deviates from Arm’s creed and commitment to “forever neutrality.” SoftBank Group also broke the promise of keeping Arm’s development genes four years ago.

As early as four years ago, Hermann Hauser expressed concern about SoftBank Group’s acquisition of Arm: “This is a sad day for me and British technology companies.”

Now that Arm is sold to Nvidia again, Hauser’s concerns are deepening, and he is convinced that he is skeptical about “maintaining Arm neutrality.”

As a result, Hauser angrily launched an action to save Arm and established a website called “Save Arm” (//saverarm.co.uk/, Hauser), calling on the British technology community and the public to jointly suppress this latest acquisition.

At the same time, an open letter to the British Prime Minister was published on the website, stating that if the same Prime Minister did not block the acquisition, it would be a crime against the future of British technology.

Hauser has three main concerns:

One is that Arm will become a tool for Nvidia to fight competitors;

Second, a large number of British employees will lose their jobs at Arm;

The third is that the US government blocked Arm from providing IP services to Chinese companies;

Fourth, the loss of Arm will affect the future of British technology development.

Based on the above concerns, Hauser said that Nvidia must sign three legally binding documents to allay the industry’s concerns.

First, job security for legally bound British Arm employees;

Second, a legally binding agreement, Nvidia may not enjoy more favorable treatment than other Arm customers;

Third, the UK must obtain an exemption from the US OFAC (U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control) regulations to ensure that British companies can use Arm’s microprocessor technology without restrictions.

Hauser also mentioned that in the long run, it’s a matter of national economic sovereignty.

Arm is the only remaining significant British technology company, with a dominant position in the field of mobile phone microprocessors, with the company’s market share exceeding 95%.

Hauser said that almost every brand of smartphone in the world, such as Apple, Samsung and Sony, uses Arm’s chips, which is the advantage of British influence.

Comments: The reason why NVIDIA’s acquisition of Arm has attracted global attention is that it has always followed the “third-party neutral” business principle to provide IP services to companies around the world. The acquisition will inevitably make other customers such as Apple, Qualcomm, Samsung, Huawei and other chip design companies worried, which is equivalent to being strangled by Nvidia.

The author believes that under the suppression of large semiconductor companies in various countries, it is difficult for the acquisition to pass the review of the competent authorities in the United Kingdom, the United States and Europe, because it completely violates the principle of fair competition in the market.

That is to say, the Chinese authorities do not have to jump out to express their position early, and remember “the bullets fly a little longer”.