What is the impact on Apple if NVIDIA were to buy ARM?

[Midphase]

Looks like the deal will really happen: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-close-to-buying-arm-for-dollar40-billion-report

 

[P1LGRIM]

ARM: UK-based chip designer sold to US firm Nvidia

The new owner of the Cambridge-based chip designer has promised to keep its headquarters in the UK.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Midphase]

Yup...done deal. Honestly I would laugh my ass off if they make Apple's life miserable from now on. Apple should have embraced AMD CPU's instead of being the elitist assholes that they have been lately!

Nvidia Announces ARM Acquisition for $40 Billion

Jensen Huang seals the deal

www.tomshardware.com

 

[thedocbwarren]

Maybe just me but I don't follow the sentiment in this post. Apple has always wanted to control their ecosystem and hardware as best they can. It's never been an open system outside the brief period of clones. The fact we can hack is a side effect of Intel CPUs and mostly similar architecture.

Apple has a perpetual licence so I see no real effect here from NVIDIA especially sicne it sould cause legal issues for NVIDIA to deny Apple access to the tech they have a licence for. Now, maybe they make some SuperTegra RTX-30-Gigawatts 88MPH chips that they don't license using new tech but that's different.

Yup...done deal. Honestly I would laugh my ass off if they make Apple's life miserable from now on. Apple should have embraced AMD CPU's instead of being the elitist assholes that they have been lately!

Nvidia Announces ARM Acquisition for $40 Billion

Jensen Huang seals the deal

www.tomshardware.com

 

[Midphase]

Apple has always wanted to control their ecosystem and hardware as best they can.

The issue that I have is that lately they seem to do so at the detriment of their user base. It feels more of a result of ego than an actual business strategy. First they can't seem to be able to work out a way to retain Nvidia/CUDA drivers on OSX which was a terrible blow to CG artists and Video creatives. Now they seem to be swinging their dicks at Epic which runs the risk of having long term repercussions for interactive development.

I'm not saying that Nvidia and Epic are completely innocent, but I don't get the sense that Apple is trying to resolve the issues in a matter that ultimately benefits their user base.

Rather, what I think would be a substantial blow to Apple is if Nvidia actually develops their own OS to compete against OSX and Windows. The time seems right for a new competitor in the OS field with OSX becoming increasingly more of a closed system, and Windows being stuck in late-1990's technology and mentality.

 

[scottkendall]

Apple has always wanted to control their ecosystem and hardware as best they can. It's never been an open system outside the brief period of clones. The fact we can hack is a side effect of Intel CPUs and mostly similar architecture.

Apple has a perpetual licence so I see no real effect here from NVIDIA especially sicne it sould cause legal issues for NVIDIA to deny Apple access to the tech they have a licence for. Now, maybe they make some SuperTegra RTX-30-Gigawatts 88MPH chips that they don't license using new tech but that's different.

Most people do not understand this but you get it as apparent by your response.

I used to tell Mac People in the early 2000's that MacOS was not more stable the hardware was just better. If you install windows on good hardware you will not have all the drama people associate with windows. Back then people were installing "Win Hardware" like winmodems for $10 or winsound cards for $5. As you said Apple has a perpetual license so no real effect from Nvida. The apple silicon is an inhouse apple SOC that licenses the ARM instruction set it is not like nvida makes apples SOC. Intel and AMD have more to fear from Nvida with this purchase then Apple.

 

[scottkendall]

Rather, what I think would be a substantial blow to Apple is if Nvidia actually develops their own OS to compete against OSX and Windows. The time seems right for a new competitor in the OS field with OSX becoming increasingly more of a closed system, and Windows being stuck in late-1990's technology and mentality.

MacOS has always been a closed-loop with their software and your correct it is only getting more closed as time rolls on. Like I have said before this was a path Job's put Apple on long before he died. The iPod and Itunes was the start of this closed-loop ecosystem.

Microsoft tried to change their mentality and OS design and the Users freaked the "F" out and they rolled it back.

Microsoft is not a Technology company they are software companies. It is intel and AMD that are stuck in the past Microsoft just writes software that works on that old mentality.

The few Microsoft branded computers are actually rather nice.

 

[bern047]

It looks like a brilliant move for NVidia, especially after Apple snubbed their graphics cards for many years...

Well put totally agree and it has happened, I am from the UK I worked for ARM Holdings in Cambridge, had a lot of shares with ARM and made some money when they were bought by the Japanese, yes Apple treated Nvidia badly, ARM will with get revenge and a lot of money of Apple the way it should be, fantastic company and very innovative loved working for ARM

 

[trs96]

From Anandtech:

NVIDIA isn’t announcing any specific hardware plans today – the deal is easily still a year and a half off from closing – but NVIDIA has made it clear that following their success in the GPU/accelerator and networking markets, they see Arm as the perfect complement to their current product lineup, giving them a capable CPU architecture to round-out their technology portfolio.

The deal is just being formally announced today and will likely not close for some time, as it is expected to be required to clear multiple regulatory hurdles in the UK, US, China, and other governments across the globe.

The other (and perhaps more immediate) challenge for NVIDIA is convincing regulators across the globe to approve the deal. NVIDIA is pitching the deal as being complementary, combining two companies that otherwise have minimal overlap. None the less, minimal is not the same as “none”, and besides the immediate and obvious overlap with Mali and GeForce GPU technologies, regulators will no doubt take a great deal of interest in the future of IP licensing. The smartphone revolution of the past decade and a half has been built on top of Arm architectures – never mind the billions of devices with Arm-based microcontrollers – so many parties have a vested interest in keeping that going.

To that end, while NVIDIA is just starting discussions with regulators – the deal was secret and not being discussed with partners nor regulators until this evening – the company is already making concessions and guarantees to the British government to get its approval. This includes committing to keeping Arm headquartered in Cambridge, and continuing to do a significant amount of their engineering work there.

 

[scottkendall]

Well put totally agree and it has happened, I am from the UK I worked for ARM Holdings in Cambridge, had a lot of shares with ARM and made some money when they were bought by the Japanese, yes Apple treated Nvidia badly, ARM will with get revenge and a lot of money of Apple the way it should be, fantastic company and very innovative loved working for ARM

Seems like you have no idea how a perpetual license works. But to make it simple Apple has a license that will never expire to use ARM for x dollars per chip. The terms are not renegotiable unless both parties decide it is in their best interest to renegotiate the terms. Because of this perpetual License of ARM technology, Nvidia really has no power over Apple. However, Apple could just go RISC-V or stick with Intel.

The thing is Cook could just call Trump and say squash the Nvidia deal there is too much overlap. The rest of the world's regulators would follow.