Rumor: Apple in Talks to Buy ARM

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Investors on both sides of the Atlantic are abuzz with a rumor Apple is considering acquiring UK chipmaker ARM for $8 billion. If true, such a deal could be a blow to a wide swath of competitors.

Although there has been no official comment on or off-the-record on a Wednesday report by the Evening Standard, the rumor pushed stock prices for the Cambridge, UK chipmaker up 8.1 percent. Along with powering a wide arrange of electronic devices ranging from Blackberries, Microsoft and Android cell phones, ARM chips are used in Apple’s iPod, iPhones and the iPad’s A4 processor.

“They [Apple] could stop ARM’s technology from ending up in everyone else’s computers and gadgets,” the Standard quoted one UK trader.

ARM was founded in 1990 as a joint venture among Apple, Acorn Computers and VSLI Technology.


Although RIM would be the largest chip investment the Cupertino, Calif. company would have made, it would not be its first. Earlier this month reports floated that Apple acquired Instrinsity, a mobile chipmaker. In 2008 Apple also acquired chipmaker P.A. Semi for $278 million in 2008.

Chipmakers have also become a point of contention between Apple and Google, which reportedly has acquired the San Jose, Calif. stealth startup Agnilux. Agnilux has its roots in former P.A. Semi employees, including founder and CEO Dan Dobberpuhl, who left the chipmaker after it was acquired by Apple.

Some onlookers believe it would be out of character for Apple to acquire ARM, suggesting Steve Jobs already has the capacity to make the A4 processor in the iPad and possibly a future iPhone. Instead, some think Intel would be a better suitor for ARM, which needs a mobile processing business for a future full of tablets.

[via 9to5 Mac, The Register and Business Insider]

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