SoftBank Strikes $6.5B Deal to Buy US Chip Designer Ampere

SoftBank Group said Thursday that it has struck a deal to buy U.S.-based chip designer Ampere Computing Holdings for $6.5 billion, as part of the Japanese investment firm’s plans to boost its exposure to artificial intelligence development.

Shares in SoftBank, whose majority-owned chip designer Arm Holdings (ARM) has a stake in Ampere, closed down 2% in Tokyo trading Thursday.

Companies from Apple (AAPL) to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) have been announcing plans to boost their production of cutting-edge technology in the U.S. recently, as the Trump administration launches tariffs globally with the aim of bringing manufacturing onshore.

SoftBank said Thursday that buying Ampere would be in keeping with its “broader strategic vision and commitment to driving innovation in AI and compute.”

Ampere, based in Santa Clara, California, has around 1,000 semiconductor engineers and “designs high-performance, energy-efficient processors specialized for next-generation cloud computing and AI workloads,” SoftBank said. Arm owns 8.08% of Ampere while its other investors are private equity firm Carlyle Group (CG) and Oracle Project Denver Holdings, according to the press release.

The deal has been approved by SoftBank’s board. However, it needs regulatory approvals including U.S. antitrust clearance and the green light from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which vets takeovers on U.S. national security grounds.