SoftBank is buying ex-Intel president Renee James' chip design company for $6.5 billion

In case you need further evidence that companies involved in AI chip manufacturing are looking to give themselves whatever edge they can, SoftBank is adding to its institutional expertise by buying former Intel president Renee James’ Ampere Computing. The conglomerate is paying $6.5 billion in cash for the chip design business.

Ampere, which James founded in 2018, focused on cloud-native computing at first. No prizes for guessing which area the company has moved into since then: "sustainable AI compute," according to a press release.

SoftBank is betting that Ampere will bolster Arm’s research and development. It was reported last month that Arm, which SoftBank also owns, is working on an in-house chip.

"As SoftBank Group broadens its AI infrastructure investments in ventures such as Cristal intelligence and Stargate, the acquisition will help enhance SoftBank Group’s capabilities in key areas and accelerate its growth initiatives," the company said in a statement. Ampere is set to keep its name and run as a wholly owned subsidiary after the deal closes, which is expected to happen later this year pending regulatory approval and other closing conditions.

"With a shared vision for advancing AI, we are excited to join SoftBank Group and partner with its portfolio of leading technology companies," James, who is CEO of Ampere, said in a statement. "This is a fantastic outcome for our team, and we are excited to drive forward our AmpereOne roadmap for high performance Arm processors and AI."

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