Nvidia’s ongoing effort to buy Arm is facing more resistance in Europe. On Wednesday, the European Commission said it was worried Nvidia could use the merger to block rivals from accessing Arm chip designs.
“Our analysis shows that the acquisition of Arm by Nvidia could lead to restricted or degraded access to Arm's IP (intellectual property), with distortive effects in many markets where semiconductors are used,” said Margrethe Vestager, the Commission's executive vice president.
According to the announcement, Nvidia “submitted commitments” to try and address the Commission’s concerns. In the past, one of the commitments has included maintaining Arm's open-licensing model. However, the EU rejected those conditions, calling them “insufficient."
The Commission’s main concerns deal with how Arm chip technologies are used to power data centers, smartphones, and video game consoles. If Nvidia controlled Arm, then the company could also influence and undermine companies across the industry, including competitors.
In response, the Commission is launching an in-depth investigation “to determine whether its initial competition concerns regarding these markets are confirmed.” The probe will also analyze whether "Arm licensees might be reluctant to continue sharing commercially sensitive information with the merged entity."
“Our investigation aims to ensure that companies active in Europe continue having effective access to the technology that is necessary to produce state-of-the-art semiconductor products at competitive prices,” Vestager added.
The Commission gave itself until March 15 to make a decision.
However, Nvidia continues to claim the proposed merger will be good for the industry. For example, the company plans on boosting funding to Arm to help it pump out more technologies. “We look forward to the opportunity to address their initial concerns and continue demonstrating that the transaction will help to accelerate Arm and boost competition and innovation, including in the EU,” Nvidia said in a statement on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority also fears the Nvidia-Arm merger could be bad for the industry, and result in price increases. In August, it recommended the UK launch a larger investigation into the deal citing anti-competition concerns.