SoftBank to acquire chip design firm Ampere for $6.5 billion

SoftBank Group Corp. announced Wednesday that it will acquire Ampere Computing, a startup that designed a server chip based on ARM processors, for $6.5 billion.

The Japanese conglomerate expects the deal to close in the second half of 2025, according to a statement.

Both The Carlyle Group and Oracle have committed to divesting their stakes in Ampere, which will operate as an independent subsidiary and maintain its headquarters in Santa Clara, California, according to SoftBank Group Corp.

SoftBank said the startup employs 1,000 semiconductor engineers and was founded in 2017.

SoftBank shares were trading down about 2% in late trading on Thursday.