Overview
- Bloomberg reported that SoftBank explored acquiring Marvell earlier this year with an eye to combining it with Arm, according to people familiar with the matter.
- Marvell shares rose more than 9% on Thursday morning after the report.
- The parties failed to agree on terms after overtures months ago, and SoftBank, Marvell, and Arm did not provide comment.
- Such a transaction would have ranked as the semiconductor industry’s largest, with Marvell valued around $80 billion, and past regulatory pushback to Nvidia’s failed bid for Arm underscores potential hurdles.
- The approach aligns with SoftBank’s broader AI buildout, including a major OpenAI stake, the $5.4 billion purchase of ABB’s robotics unit, and the announced $500 billion Stargate data-center initiative.