Nvidia targets Arm’s customer network, CEO tells SoftBank’s Son

TOKYO: The chief executive of Nvidia Corp said his planned acquisition of Arm from SoftBank Group Corp cost an “arm and a leg,” but that the chip designer’s valuable network of customers made it worthwhile.

Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank announced in September it would sell Arm to U.S. chip designer Nvidia for $40 billion as it builds a cash pile through asset disposal.

“I had to pay you an arm and a leg for it,” Jensen Huang told SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son in a pre-recorded conversation at annual conference SoftBank World.

Huang, wearing his trademark leather jacket and sat before a fire, said Arm’s customer network is its most valuable asset, and that he wants to bring Nvidia’s artificial intelligence technology to those customers.