SoftBank and Nvidia have announced their decision to call off efforts to acquire UK-based computing technology company Arm. The deal came to an unfruitful end following lingering scrutiny that has followed the deal since it was conceived.

Arm said it is now exploring a public offering in lieu of the acquisition, pushing for an IPO to happen in the next 12 months.

In December, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), filed a lawsuit to halt the acquisition following a barrage of petitions from players in the industry. The argument has been that the deal will hurt market competition.

“The proposed vertical deal would give one of the largest chip companies control over the computing technology and designs that rival firms rely on to develop their own competing chips,” the FTC had said in an announcement.

After calling it quits, Arm’s CEO Simon Segars announced that he is resigning his position effective Monday, with Rene Haas, the president of Arm’s IP group taking over his role.

In the third quarter of 2020, SoftBank reached a $40 billion agreement with Nvidia for Arm’s acquisition, but that triggered a wave of protests by Arm’s customers, including Apple, Samsung, Qualcomm, Advanced Micro Devices and Intel. The companies were worried that the deal would limit their access to Arm’s instruction set among others, because the acquisition would give Nvidia control over a critical supplier that gives licenses of essential chip technology to industry players, including China’s Huawei and Amazon.

In a petition early last year, Qualcomm and others told the FTC, the European Commission, the UK’s competition and Markets Authority and China’s State Administration for Market Regulation that the deal will impact their businesses.

Arm has earned the name ‘Switzerland of the industry’ because it is not a competitor in the semiconductor industry, rather it licenses chip designs and related software code to all comers. The concern is that if Nvidia, a player in the chip industry, acquires Arm, it could limit its rivals’ access to these technologies or raise the cost of products.

Haas acknowledged that the deal finally collapsed on Monday, but explained that it has nothing to do with the leadership change which he said started earlier.

“While we are disappointed that the acquisition didn’t go through, we are, at the same time, very excited about our prospects going forward and can’t wait to get this next chapter started,” he said. What exactly that’ll look like, Haas wouldn’t say just yet, but he noted that the company will continue its efforts to push into the CPU and GPU market, as well as continue its efforts in the AI space. “Continuing what we’ve been doing and executing on that is going to be really important, because we’ve demonstrated a recipe on how to grow the business and we definitely want to continue that,” he said.

Nvidia dominated the GPU and AI accelerator market and also owned the IP, the chips that power virtually every smartphone and IoT device. Acquiring Arm would have created a monopolistic market that may heighten Nvidia’s dominion and also increase cost.

For the deal to be approved in the future, Invidia and Arm may need to review it. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang hinted on a possibility of a deal in the future.

“Arm has a bright future, and we’ll continue to support them as a proud licensee for decades to come. Arm is at the center of the important dynamics in computing. Though we won’t be one company, we will partner closely with Arm. The significant investments that Masa has made have positioned Arm to expand the reach of the Arm CPU beyond client computing to supercomputing, cloud, AI and robotics. I expect Arm to be the most important CPU architecture of the next decade,” he said in a statement.

As a growing child, I strongly nurtured the concept that if I eventually joined politics in future, I would like to serve in the Senate whereby I would be involved in making national laws and would be able to be addressed as Senator.

But it seems currently, I’m gradually losing that dream, which I once nurtured with great passion and vigour. The loss of interest might not be unconnected with the ongoing trend across the federation I’ve taken time to observe.

With all due respect, the continued melodrama being displayed by serving governors in Nigeria has ostensibly made the revered Red Chamber of the National Assembly (NASS) to inadvertently lose its honour by the day. My choice of words ought to be considered apt if you make a bit effort to be in my humble shoes.

I wouldn’t be informing us if I say these various serving governors have made the Senate to be seen as their retirement hub. Virtually all wanted to land in the NASS’ upper chamber having been handed over as the Executive Governor of his State. This glaring situation is pathetically fast becoming a norm.

It has amusingly continued unabated that any governor who’s serving his second term and almost completing the tenure wouldn’t hesitate to start dreaming how he would be addressed as a senator the moment he left office.

They continually think in this direction as if it has become statutory for them to vacate the Government House for the Senate upon the expiration of their tenures.

The question remains: how did we get here or who actually initiated this? Aside from ascertaining the brain behind the initiative, there’s equally need to realize the reason the electorate are yet to question – in its entirety – this practice, which has succeeded in truncating the chances of ‘virgin’ Nigerians securing a senatorial seat.

As the purported political tradition lingers, most concerned analysts are engulfed in uncertainties as they ceaselessly argue that there’s no good side of the unending practice.

According to this set of thinkers, the system is unwittingly throwing normalcy to the dust by allowing a few gladiators to hijack what belongs to all. I concur wholly with this school of thought, hence deeply perturbed about the existence of the uncalled act.

As I keenly observe the intrigues and intricacies surrounding the perverted political system, I can’t help but remain sober. The unfriendly ripples emanating from the anomaly is enough reason to worry over the future of our nascent democracy. This, therefore, calls for an alarm from any well-meaning onlooker.

It becomes more worrisome when realized that any of the said politicians who intends to retire to his country home, or outside the Senate, after serving as a governor is strongly ‘scolded’ by his teeming followers for nurturing such interest let alone disclosing it.

This implies the followers are partly, if not mainly, the reason the leaders have apparently chosen to remain the bidders while the former continue to clap with their teeth widely open.

It’s so sad, to assert the least, that no Nigerian politician – on the average – wishes to retire having served ‘successfully’ in a certain position of authority; rather, he would want to taste virtually every other political post as he leaves office. This has abruptly become a recurring decimal among these politicos. One could boldly opine that this is an aberration.

Retirement is a good thing that every right thinking person should yearn for. It is a time when an individual is required to take a resounding rest having meritoriously served in a particular position within a given duration. Such a period in one’s life deserves to be celebrated by all and sundry. But it’s absurd that in this part of the world, people fear to go for such rest.

On the part of the civil servants, particularly the state employees, their fear is understandable. They are invariably afraid to embrace retirement owing to the fact that receiving their pensions, and even gratuities, would be far-fetched. So, in this case, we are moved to sympathize with this class of persons.

But in the case of the politicians who may have acquired ‘all’ while in office, such fear of the unknown is laughable, thus not in any way acceptable. Funnily enough, these past governors would gladly collect pensions while serving as senators. How do we reconcile this?

My prime worry and furry is that the country’s revered Senate is fast becoming a retirement ground for its various politicians. Lawmaking, which is a very critical and sensitive activity, hence supposed to be reserved strictly for only ‘fresh bloods’, is now seen as a duty meant for retirees. This ugly development is mischievously implying that our young ones cannot handle the said portfolio as expected. What a nation!

We cannot continue to mortgage our collective future for a mere pot of porridge yam. It’s conspicuously high time the youth rose up from this slumber that has already unequivocally consumed their fortune. This arrant apathy, or perhaps ignorance, that smacks of cowardice, ought to be wholly terminated headlong.

As I weep on this rostrum, I don’t seek for one that could wipe the tears but someone who would truly and fully comprehend the real essence of the sobriety.