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Samara Duplessis, now 15, ran away from her Michigan home in May 2020, but was recovered after a few days. The picture that the parents used to find her was spread on social media as part of the Wayfair Conspiracy. The parents think she may have been at risk of being sex trafficked and they are very protective of her now. 

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Samara Duplessis, now 15, ran away from her Michigan home in May 2020, but was recovered after a few days. The picture that the parents used to find her was spread on social media as part of the Wayfair Conspiracy. The parents think she may have been at..

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The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday sued to block Nvidia’s $40 billion acquisition of U.K. chip designer Arm Ltd., arguing that the huge deal would stifle innovation in semiconductors.

The agency said in a news release that the acquisition could hurt the development of critical new technologies, ranging from cloud computing to driver assistance systems like automated lane changing.

“Tomorrow’s technologies depend on preserving today’s competitive, cutting-edge chip markets,” FTC Bureau of Competition Director Holly Vedova said in a news release. “This proposed deal would distort Arm’s incentives in chip markets and allow the combined firm to unfairly undermine Nvidia’s rivals.”

The FTC move follows intense scrutiny of the deal in the United Kingdom and European Union, where regulators have expressed concern about its possible impact on competition and national security.

Analysts said the FTC suit is unlikely to affect the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/09/23/chip-shortage-forecast-automakers/" target=_blank>global semiconductor shortage</a> that has left auto manufacturers and others without enough computer chips to produce their goods.

But it shows the agency following through on its pledge to take a tougher line on mergers and acquisitions under the leadership of Chair Lina Khan, a Democrat. All four commissioners, including two Republicans, voted to advance the complaint.

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The complaint is not yet public, but in a news release, the FTC said Arm operates as a “Switzerland” for the industry, serving as a neutral partner that licenses chip designs to a variety of semiconductor companies. Many companies use Arm designs to make microprocessors, which are the brains that operate smartphones and data centers.

“The question to ask is which companies do not license [Arm technology]. That would be a short list,” said Brian Matas, a chip analyst with the market-research firm <a href="https://www.icinsights.com/" target=_blank>IC Insights</a>, who listed Qualcomm, Broadcom, Samsung, Google and Apple as Arm’s customers, along with European and Chinese semiconductor companies.

About 25 billion chips containing Arm technology were shipped worldwide in 2020, Matas said.

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The FTC argued that the acquisition would give the California-based Nvidia too much control over the technology and designs that its competitors use to develop their own rival products, as well as access to sensitive data about some of its key rivals.

The agency argues that Nvidia could use that power to undermine rivals, which would ultimately lead to reduced quality and higher prices for American consumers.

Arm might also be discouraged from innovations that conflict with Nvidia’s business interests, the FTC also said. Nvidia, based in Santa Clara, Calif., makes semiconductors that power video games and data centers.

Vedova said the suit should “send a strong signal that we will act aggressively to protect our critical infrastructure markets from illegal vertical mergers that have far-reaching and damaging effects on future innovations.”

U.S. will miss electric-vehicle targets without big investments in semiconductor manufacturing, commerce secretary warns

Nvidia spokesman Robert Sherbin said in a statement that the deal would “benefit the industry and promote competition.” The company plans to invest in research and development at the chip maker, and said it would create more opportunities for companies to license its design.

“NVIDIA is committed to preserving Arm’s open licensing model and ensuring that its [intellectual property] is available to all interested licensees, current and future,” he said.

Arm, which is based in Cambridge, England, and owned by Japan’s Softbank Group, declined to comment on the FTC suit.

Stacy Rasgon, a semiconductor analyst at Bernstein Research, said the FTC move was not a surprise, as the proposed acquisition has already faced scrutiny from regulators in other countries. Because of the scrutiny, “no investors really thought the deal would close,” he said.

Britain <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/digital-secretary-instructs-cma-to-look-into-nvidias-takeover-of-arm" target=_blank>in April launched an investigation</a> of the proposed acquisition of the U.K.-headquartered company on national security grounds, calling Arm “a major global player in the semiconductor industry.”

The <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_5624" target=_blank>European Commission in October also began an investigation</a>, expressing concern about competition.

“Semiconductors are everywhere in products and devices that we use everyday as well as in infrastructure,” Margrethe Vestager, the E.U. official who oversees competition policy, said in a statement at the time. “Our analysis shows that the acquisition of Arm by NVIDIA could lead to restricted or degraded access to Arm’s IP, with distortive effects in many markets where semiconductors are used.”

Northwestern University, BS in journalism

Cat Zakrzewski is a national technology policy reporter, tracking global efforts to regulate the tech industry. She focuses on AI policy and the battles over free speech online.

Cat Zakrzewski

Finalist for a 2016 Pulitzer Prize as part of a WSJ team

National Institute for Health Care Management print award, 2017

Association of Health Care Journalists first-place award, 2015

Newswomen's Club of New York award, 2017

Cornell University, BA in English

Jeanne Whalen is a reporter covering business around the world. She previously reported for the Wall Street Journal from New York, London and Moscow. 