SoftBank Group announced on Wednesday its plan to acquire Ampere Computing, a semiconductor design company founded by former Intel executive Renee James, in a $6.5 billion all-cash deal aimed at enhancing its investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure. The acquisition is projected to close in the second half of 2025.
Ampere will function as a wholly-owned subsidiary of SoftBank following the acquisition, which will see Carlyle Group and Oracle, the startup’s lead investors, divesting their stakes. Carlyle holds a 59.65% stake in Ampere, while Oracle owns 32.27%. The company, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, employs around 1,000 semiconductor engineers.
In 2021, SoftBank considered acquiring a minority stake in Ampere, valued at $8 billion at that time, according to Bloomberg reports. SoftBank is a significant shareholder in Arm Holdings, which is relevant given that Ampere has developed server chips based on the ARM computing platform, creating a potential strategic alignment between the two companies. SoftBank acquired Arm for $32 billion in 2016, and Arm went public in 2023.
Ampere’s clientele includes major cloud service providers such as Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud, Alibaba, Tencent, as well as organizations like HPE and Supermicro. The acquisition is part of SoftBank’s broader strategy to reinforce its capabilities in critical areas like AI and computing, and accelerate its growth initiatives in the rapidly evolving tech landscape.
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Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp., stated, “The future of Artificial Super Intelligence requires breakthrough computing power. Ampere’s expertise in semiconductors and high-performance computing will help accelerate this vision and deepens our commitment to AI innovation in the United States.”
Founded in 2017, Ampere has evolved from its initial focus on cloud-native computing to include sustainable AI computing solutions. Renee James, the founder and CEO, expressed her enthusiasm about joining SoftBank, noting, “With a shared vision for advancing AI, we are excited to join SoftBank Group and partner with its portfolio of leading technology companies. This is a fantastic outcome for our team, and we are excited to drive forward our AmpereOne roadmap for high-performance Arm processors and AI.”
SoftBank’s recent activities in 2023 have included partnerships aimed at developing advanced enterprise AI, like its collaboration with OpenAI on a project referred to as Cristal intelligence, and participation in President Donald Trump’s $500 billion Stargate initiative focused on private AI investments.
Following the announcement, shares of SoftBank were last seen trading down about 2% as the company solidified plans to expand its influence in AI technologies through this acquisition of the fabless chip designer.
Featured image credit: Sean Pollock/Unplash
