Nvidia forecast beats expectations, says talks on $40bn Arm acquisition taking longer than expected

Nvidia on Wednesday said talks with regulators to clear its $40 billion proposed acquisition of British semiconductor technology firm Arm Ltd are taking longer than expected.

The disclosure came as Nvidia, the world’s biggest maker of graphics chips for gamers and artificial intelligence chips for data centers, forecast third-quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations on Wednesday as it benefits from a boom in demand.

But investors have focused on whether Nvidia’s move to acquire Arm will withstand regulatory scrutiny and close by March of next year as Nvidia promised. Arm has long been a neutral supplier of technology throughout the chip industry, and Nvidia competitors such as Qualcomm Inc have objected to having Arm land in the hands of a rival.