SoftBank to Acquire Ampere in $6.5 Billion All-Cash Deal

20.03.2025

SoftBank Group has announced its acquisition of Ampere Computing, a semiconductor company founded by former Intel executive Renee James, in a $6.5 billion all-cash deal. This move is part of SoftBank’s broader strategy to expand its presence in AI infrastructure and computing. Once the deal is finalized in the second half of 2025, Ampere will become a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank.

Ampere’s major investors, including Carlyle and Oracle, will divest their shares in the company. Carlyle currently holds a 59.65% stake, while Oracle owns 32.27%. Based in Santa Clara, California, Ampere employs approximately 1,000 semiconductor engineers and specializes in ARM-based server chips designed for cloud computing and AI workloads.

SoftBank, which is the majority shareholder of Arm Holdings, sees Ampere as a valuable addition to its technology portfolio. Ampere’s chips are already used by major cloud providers such as Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud, Alibaba, and Tencent, as well as hardware companies like HPE and Supermicro. The acquisition is expected to enhance SoftBank’s capabilities in AI and computing while accelerating its expansion efforts.

This deal follows a series of recent AI-focused investments by SoftBank, including a partnership with OpenAI to develop advanced enterprise AI and an investment in Stargate, a project building AI data centers in the U.S. SoftBank has also acquired an old Sharp factory in Japan to support its semiconductor ambitions.

SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son emphasized the importance of computing power for the future of artificial intelligence, stating that Ampere’s expertise in high-performance computing would help advance this vision. Ampere’s founder, Renee James, expressed enthusiasm for the acquisition, highlighting the company’s alignment with SoftBank’s mission and its commitment to furthering AI innovation.