SoftBank Acquires Ampere Computing for $6.5 Billion

SoftBank Group, a Japanese technology investment company, has announced its plan to purchase Ampere Computing, a firm that designs server-grade chips using the Arm architecture. This acquisition is valued at $6.5 billion, with Ampere's primary investors, Oracle and Carlyle, divesting their shares in the company.

Ampere is known for its manycore CPUs, such as the AmpereOne, which was introduced in 2023. This model features between 96 and 192 cores, all of which are compatible with the Armv8.6+ architecture and version 5 of the Server Base System Architecture, albeit with some custom modifications by Ampere.

Several major tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Alibaba, and Tencent, utilize Ampere’s silicon for varying workloads as well as to support their IaaS and SaaS offerings.

Looking ahead, Ampere is not content with just 192 cores. The company plans to launch the AmpereOne Aurora in 2024, which is expected to feature a staggering 512 cores. This chip is specifically designed to handle AI tasks, likely aligning with SoftBank's interest in enhancing its capabilities in artificial intelligence.

Masayoshi Son, CEO and Chairman of SoftBank Group, expressed that the advancement of Artificial Super Intelligence demands serious computational power. He highlighted that Ampere’s knowledge in semiconductors and high-performance computing will help accelerate SoftBank’s vision and commitment to AI innovation in the United States.

Renée J. James, the founder and CEO of Ampere, shared her enthusiasm about joining SoftBank Group and collaborating with its array of leading technology firms. The acquisition suggests that Ampere will also work closely with other companies in the SoftBank ecosystem.

"Ampere is expected to collaborate with the broader SBG ecosystem, including group companies, investees, and business partners," the announcement stated. Additionally, it noted that with this strategic alignment, Ampere’s expertise in developing and producing ARM-based chips would enhance the design strengths of Arm Holdings.

This development raises interesting possibilities that SoftBank's various businesses may adopt Ampere processors, especially considering that some of these businesses, like LY Corp, operate on a massive scale. Moreover, SoftBank owns a telecommunications company in Japan and holds investment stakes in several e-commerce giants and enterprise technology firms.

If SoftBank can successfully steer its various companies toward using Ampere, many workloads could transition from x86 architecture. It remains unclear what this means for Arm’s own ambitions in the server processor space, especially considering reports that Meta has signed on as a customer. There is speculation on whether SoftBank will manage both Ampere and Arm's processor divisions simultaneously or focus on direct sales of custom chips while allowing Ampere to handle more standardized offerings.

SoftBank, Ampere, Acquisition, AI, Technology