Reuters
- Staff at chip designer Arm Holdings will receive a share of $1.5 billion — around $230,000 each — as part of its $40 billion acquisition by Nvidia.
- Jensen Huang, the founder of Nvidia, said staff will receive an acquisition payout and retention bonuses over several years, The Times reported.
- Arm’s cofounder Hermann Hauser, who is no longer with the company, has warned that thousands of staff in the UK will lose their jobs because of the deal.
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Staff at UK chip designer Arm will collectively receive $1.5 billion in equity thanks to the company’s takeover by Nvidia — equivalent to roughly $230,000 each.
Nvidia, the largest semiconductor maker in the world, agreed to buy Arm Holdings for $40 billion on Sunday, four years after it was bought by Softbank for $32 billion. Jensen Huang, the founder of Nvidia, said Arm employees will receive an acquisition payout and retention bonuses over several years, totalling $1.5 billion, The Times reported.
Split between the company’s 6,500 employees, the payouts and bonuses amount to roughly $230,000 per person.
On an call with analysts, Huang said he would invest in Britain, where Arm is based, and create more jobs, Reuters reported. “We want to grow Arm and make it become even greater,” he said, adding that Arm will hire more engineers and staff for a new artificial intelligence research center at its Cambridge headquarters.
Arm has been headquartered in the city for 25 years and that will not change, Huang said in a letter to employees.
Arm's cofounder Hermann Hauser, who is no longer with the company, warned on Sunday that thousands will lose their jobs because of the deal in Cambridge, Manchester, Belfast, and other major cities across the UK when the company's headquarters move to the US.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, he added that the US government could potentially have the final say over how and where companies using Arm's technology export their own products. Arm dismissed these concerns on Monday, saying that the prospect of heightened scrutiny would be unaffected.
CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber said Arm risks a backlash from companies that license its tech, including Apple, if the $40 billion sale acquisition goes ahead. "Independence is critical to the ongoing success of Arm and once that is compromised, its value will start to erode," he said.
Nvidia expects the deal to complete within 18 months.