SoftBank Acquires US Semiconductor Company Ampere for $6.5 Billion

Japan's SoftBank Group is accelerating its expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities by acquiring the U.S. semiconductor design company Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion (approximately 9.4868 trillion KRW).

On the 20th, SoftBank announced in a press release that "through its subsidiary Silvervans6, it will acquire all shares of Ampere," adding, "This transaction is expected to be completed in late 2025 after approval from U.S. authorities, and as a result, Ampere will become an indirect wholly owned subsidiary."

Masayoshi Son (Japanese name: Son Masayoshi), Chairman of SoftBank Group. Photo by AFP Yonhap News.

According to Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei), Ampere's shares are currently held by U.S. private equity firm Carlyle with 59.65%, U.S. software company Oracle with 32.27%, and a company related to the UK semiconductor design firm Arm with 8.08%.

SoftBank will acquire the shares through its subsidiary. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

SoftBank acquired Arm, a core part of its AI strategy, in 2016 for about 3.3 trillion yen and listed it on the U.S. stock market in September 2023.

Bloomberg reported that by acquiring Ampere, SoftBank will gain access to one of the few large design teams capable of designing advanced chips not owned by other companies. With AI infrastructure spending surging recently, chip demand is also skyrocketing. Additionally, the acquisition of Ampere could provide a way to secure some advanced product lines that were not obtained through Arm.

Masa Son (Japanese name: Son Masayoshi), chairman of SoftBank Group, stated, "The future of artificial superintelligence (ASI) requires unprecedented computing power. Ampere's expertise accelerates the realization of this vision."

In January this year, SoftBank announced its participation in the Stargate project to establish data centers in the U.S. together with OpenAI and Oracle, planning to invest up to $500 billion over the next four years. In February, it announced the creation of a joint venture with OpenAI in Japan to develop generative AI.