Softbank’s acquisition of chip designer Ampere Computing is facing a potentially deeper probe by the U.S. government, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) shares fell 2.2% in Japanese trade following the report, while the broader Nikkei 225 index shed 1%.
The Federal Trade Commission has opened up an in-depth investigation of the takeover, known formally as a second request for information, Bloomberg reported. A limited number of deals face such in-depth reviews, with the process potentially taking years before the companies are issued with legal action to block the deal.
Softbank (OTC:SFTBY) had announced a $6.5 billion deal for Ampere in March, as the Japanese tech conglomerate invests aggressively in sectors tied to artificial intelligence.
Ampere makes server processors that are a key component in the data centers that power AI models.
Softbank also owns chip designer Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM), which it had publicly listed in late-2023. Ampere is a customer of Arm, and licenses its chip platform technology.
