SoftBank is back on its chip-buying frenzy, and this time, the target is Ampere Computing, a data-center chip designer that’s been circling the “for sale” block for a while now. The Japanese conglomerate is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire Ampere in a deal that would value the Oracle-backed firm at about $6.5 billion—which, in case you missed it, is a steep discount from the $8 billion valuation it posted back in 2021. 

(Source: Tech Crunch) 

What’s interesting here though, is that SoftBank already owns Arm Holdings, the chip design powerhouse that basically prints money for every AI-driven tech company scrambling to stay relevant. So, snatching up Ampere—which builds Arm-based processors for data centers—isn’t exactly a random impulse buy. It’s more like doubling down on the AI gold rush, since everyone and their grandma is still throwing cash at semiconductor companies right now (despite the DeepSeek chaos). 

The problem? Ampere is not Nvidia. The chip game is cutthroat, and while Ampere had a solid early-mover advantage in low-power, high-performance server chips, the market has since been flooded with competition. We’re talking Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and even Nvidia itself, all developing their own custom AI chips to bypass third-party suppliers. So, Ampere is basically in a knife fight with trillion-dollar tech firms, which is not exactly where you want to be.

(Source: Bloomberg) 

However, Mayoshi Son, SoftBank’s fearless leader has made it painfully clear that he wants to go all-in on AI. After botching the WeWork saga and getting clowned for his Vision Fund losses, Son is betting that owning the infrastructure that powers AI is his shot at redemption. And Teflon Don’s Stargate Project just gave him the greenlight to do so. Because at the end of the day, if the AI boom is the gold rush, then chips are the picks and shovels—and SoftBank wants to own the whole damn mine. 

Additionally, Oracle already owns 29% of Ampere and has the option to take full control. So, in theory, Larry Ellison could swoop in and lock this deal up for himself, turning Ampere into an in-house Oracle chipmaker. That means this whole SoftBank acquisition could just be a very expensive game of chicken.

With that said though, hype cycles don’t last forever. And it’s something that’s ben at the forefront of most investors’ minds over the past twelve months. Once the current wave of AI spending cools off, companies are going to start cutting costs, and that means Ampere’s entire business model—selling chips to cloud providers—could get squeezed. If SoftBank overpays (which, let’s be honest, they have a history of doing), they could be stuck holding the bag when the market corrects.

(Source: Giphy) 

So yeah, SoftBank is making a massive bet that AI infrastructure spending will keep skyrocketing indefinitely. If they’re right, they’ll have two major players—Arm and Ampere—positioned to dominate the AI semiconductor space. If they’re wrong? Well, let’s just say we’ve seen this movie before (see: WeWork, Uber, and every other hype-fueled SoftBank disaster).

Either way, Ampere is getting sold—the only question is who’s ambitious (read: borderline dumb) enough to pay the final price. In the meantime, keep an eye on this story and place your bets accordingly, friends. As always, stay safe and stay frosty! Until next time…

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Stocks.News holds positions in Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Uber as mentioned in the article.