SK Hynix, a memory manufacturer, considers the creation of a consortium to buy ARM

Although NVIDIA’s acquisition of ARM was cancelled, Japan’s SoftBank (current owner of the ARM company) remains interested in selling it. Among those interested in a potential deal is South Korean memory maker SK Hynix, which is studying the formation of a consortium of investors to buy the manufacturer of processors.

According to the Yonhap news agency, SK Hynix vice president and CEO Park Jung-ho said his company is studying a strategic alliance that will make the purchase possible. “I don’t think ARM is a company that can be bought by a single company,” the executive said after the corporation’s annual shareholder meeting.

In a statement issued shortly after, SK Hynix said the CEO’s statement should only be seen as a response to a question posed by the press. According to the company, it does not refer to any specific plan or future strategy of the memory manufacturer….

ARM is currently valued at $60 billion, and now the company will have to undergo several transformations after the failure of its acquisition by NVIDIA.

The first reflections of the situation occurred in the workforce of the company, which plans to cut up to 15% of its 6,500 employees. According to the company, this is a consequence of the fact that they will no longer receive the financial support that they expected with the purchase process.

While ARM is proving to be an attractive acquisition for a number of companies, SoftBank’s current plans involve listing the company’s shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange in March 2023. According to the Financial Times, the company intends to transfer shares of its Chinese joint venture, that is not part of the sale…

That division will continue to be associated with ARM’s UK headquarters through a license agreement and will allow it to continue to receive income from ARM China (virtually ARM China doesn’t want to be sold, but asks not to be touched) which won’t need to audit its finances. In short, China steals an international company valued at billions that is as important as an NVIDIA or AMD.