NEW ORLEANS – SoftBank Group Corp., the Tokyo-based multinational conglomerate, has announced its acquisition of Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion.
Founded in 2017 by former Intel president Renée James, Ampere is a Silicon Valley startup specializing in high-performance processors for data centers. The company leverages reduced instruction set computing (RISC) architecture widely used in mobile devices, embedded systems, and data center processors.
James, who spent 28 years at Intel and served as the company’s president from 2013 to 2015, helped steer Intel’s strategic shift toward mobile, security technology, and data center investments during her tenure alongside then-CEO Brian Krzanich.
AI data centers notoriously require vast amounts of energy to operate, and Ampere’s processors are known for their energy efficiency and performance. James’ years of experience in this area informed Ampere’s innovative approach in developing energy-efficient chip solutions. This made Ampere an attractive acquisition for SoftBank.
The acquisition aligns with SoftBank’s broader strategy to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and capabilities. Chairman Masayoshi Son highlighted that Ampere’s energy-efficient, high-performance processors would accelerate SoftBank’s vision of advancing “Artificial Superintelligence.”
Ampere will continue to operate under its name and maintain its headquarters in Santa Clara, California, until the deal is close later in the year. Major investors, Oracle and Carlyle Group, will sell their stakes in Ampere as part of this transaction.
This move complements SoftBank’s previous investments in the semiconductor and AI space. The conglomerate’s portfolio includes ownership of Arm Holdings, the British semiconductor and software design company, which it acquired for $32 billion in 2016.
Arm Holdings develops Arm architecture, the foundation for a significant portion of the world’s processors. It also utilizes RISC software, the CPU architecture that focuses on executing a smaller number of simple instructions at a faster speed which makes them more energy efficient. SoftBank took Arm Holdings public on NASDAQ in 2023.
SoftBank’s acquisition of Ampere also complements the company’s previous investments in OpenAI and in the formation of the $500 billion joint venture, Stargate, alongside investors OpenAI and Oracle. Stargate aims to create a global AI infrastructure by building next-generation AI data centers with advanced semiconductor technology to support AI workloads.
The project focuses on developing and deploying AI chips and cloud infrastructure that can handle the increasing computational demands of AI models. Oracle provides cloud computing expertise, OpenAI contributes AI research, and SoftBank drives financial backing and semiconductor strategy through its investments in Arm Holdings and Ampere Computing.
SoftBank’s ongoing initiatives also extend to robotics with its operation of SoftBank Robotics, the developer behind humanoid robots such as Pepper and Whiz.
