Published in PC Hardware

ARM deal was all about the internet of things

by on20 July 2016


But the rest of SoftBank’s logic is bizzare

Japan’s SoftBank surprise buy out of British chip designer ARM was all about getting its foot in the door into the internet of things.

SoftBank chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son said he wrote the $32 billion cheque because he was interested in the large business potential for the internet of things.

This surprised analysts because he failed to mention any other things that ARM could do for his outfit. If he was banking of the internet of things he might have a long time to wait before his investment pays off, but if had a short term plan it might have been worthwhile

Digitimes Research said that the deal had two main problems. ARM’s clientele differs from SoftBank's. Its clients are mobile IC design houses and mobile terminal devices.

SoftBank's business operations consist of mobile telecom and Internet services in the Japan (including Yahoo Japan) and the US (its subsidiary Sprint ).

ARM's business operation differs from SoftBank's because it makes money by flogging IP licenses and SoftBank is a provider of mobile telecom and Internet services. Basically this means that they are at the opposite ends of the supply chain.

It seems that Softbank is leaving ARM alone to carry out an independent operation after the acquisition, SoftBank is expected to hope that ARM can extend its global dominance from mobile terminal devices to IoT application.

Last modified on 20 July 2016
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