Softbank to acquire ampere of semiconductor designer in a $ 6.5B deal of all cash

Softbank Group declared On Wednesday, he will acquire Ampere Computing, a chip designer, founded by former Intel CEO Rene James, through a $ 6.5 billion deal as a strategic move to expand his AI infrastructure investment.

Ampere will work as a fully subsidiary of Softbank after the deal, which is expected to end in the second half of 2025.

Carlyle and Oracle, Ampere’s leading investors, will sell their shares in the launch of Santa Clara, California. According to SoftBank statementCarlyle owns a 59.65% share, while Oracle owns 32.27%. Starting used 1000 semiconductor engineersS

In 2021, SoftBank was considering acquireing a minority stake in Ampere, which was then estimated at $ 8 billion, on BloombergS

Softbank is the largest shareholder of ARM Holdings, and Ampere has developed a server chip based on the ARM Compute platform, positioning the two companies are strong partners. (Softbank He acquired a British designer hand of chips for $ 32 billion in 2016.and got up publicly traded in 2023.) AMPERE customers Turn on Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud, Alibaba and Tencent, as well as companies such as HPE and Supermicro.

Softbank said the acquisition of Ampere would strengthen its capabilities in key areas such as AI and calculate and accelerate its growth initiatives. The most acquisition message follows a number of deals concluded by Japanese technology tycoon in the last few months, including His partnership with Openai to develop an advanced AI company called “Cristal Intelligence”. SoftBank has also invested in AI infrastructure project Stargatethat builds data centers for Openai in the US and purchased the old sharp factory in JapanS

“The future of artificial super intelligence requires a breakthrough computing force,” says Masayoshi’s son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp. “Ampere’s expertise in semiconductors and high -performance calculations will help speed up this vision and deepen our commitment to innovation in the AI ​​in the United States.”

AMPERE was founded in 2017 by James, who previously worked on Intel and Private Equity FIRC Carlyle and served on the Oracle board. Initially, the company specialized in cloud relatives, but has since expanded its scope to include a sustainable AI calculation.

“With a shared vision for AI progress, we are excited to join SoftBank Group and partner with our portfolio from leading technology companies,” James said. “This is a fantastic result for our team and we are excited to continue our roadmap Ampereone for highly efficient Arm processors and AI.”