On Wednesday, SoftBank Group (OTC:SFTBF) (OTC:SFTBY) announced that it has acquired Ampere Computing in a $6.5 billion deal, with the transaction expected to close in the second half of 2025.
What Happened: Ampere, backed by Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL) and Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG), designs high-performance server chips based on Arm Holdings PLC – ADR (NASDAQ:ARM) architecture.
Both Oracle and Carlyle will sell their stakes as part of the transaction.
Founded in 2017 by Renee James, a former Intel Corp president, Ampere will operate as an independent subsidiary of SoftBank and retain its headquarters in Santa Clara, California.
The company currently employs around 1,000 semiconductor engineers.
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Why It's Important: The acquisition signals SoftBank's aggressive pivot toward AI infrastructure, following its partnership with OpenAI and involvement in the Donald Trump-backed $500 billion Stargate initiative.
The move also bolsters SoftBank's Arm ecosystem, following its $32 billion acquisition of Arm in 2016 and Arm's 2023 IPO.
SoftBank also plans to build a $676 million AI data center in Japan. This facility is expected to support large-scale AI projects, further enhancing SoftBank’s AI ecosystem.
Earlier this week, the company also unveiled a new AI model designed to optimize telecom operations.
Photo by NP27 on Shutterstock.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
