Arm has said it will use 'firewalls' to protect its customers’ confidential information from Nvidia, which is set to acquire the Cambridge-based company for $40 billion (£30 billion).
The 'firewalls' also aim to ensure that the company will not be able to prematurely access Arm's technologies.
Arm's IP Products Group president, Rene Haas, told Reuters that the his company is “going to keep the firewalls up between the two companies relative to confidentiality”.
“We’re not going to give any early access to Nvidia,” he added.
However, some information might be exempt from protection. Haas said that Arm would have to disclose whether significant customers were planning to move to its rival RISC-V, which could potentially affect Nvidia’s financial results.
These major customers include Intel and Qualcomm Inc, which are also considered some of Nvidia’s main competitors.
Haas told Reuters that the two companies were in discussions on “how to minimise the access to that information”.
Intel’s chief executive Bob Swan previously told Reuters that the company would “evaluate this every step of the way, as we do with all combinations in the industry, to make sure that Intel and the industry have access to critical technologies on a fair and level playing field”.
Meanwhile, Nvidia issued a statement on Wednesday vowing to “make sure that the confidential information of Arm’s customers will be fully protected, just as it is today”.
The deal, which is arguably one of the most controversial acquisitions in recent years, will see Nvidia pay Arm’s current owner SoftBank a total of $21.5 billion in common stock and $12 billion in cash, which includes $2 billion payable at signing.
RELATED RESOURCE
Data: A resource much too valuable to leave unprotected
Protect your data to protect your company
The Japanese investment group took over the chipmaker in 2016, and the government at the time mandated that Arm remains in the UK.
However, the new acquisition raised concerns that Nvidia will move Arm's operations out of Cambridge. Following the announcement of the deal, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that his company "intends to retain the name and strong brand identity" of Arm within the UK and also expand its base in Cambridge.
-
Should AI PCs be part of your next hardware refresh?AI PCs are fast becoming a business staple and a surefire way to future-proof your business
-
Westcon-Comstor and Vectra AI launch brace of new channel initiativesNews Westcon-Comstor and Vectra AI have announced the launch of two new channel growth initiatives focused on the managed security service provider (MSSP) space and AWS Marketplace.
-
Capita handed £50m London police contract weeks after losing pension dataNews The outsourcer will provide digital fraud reporting services after its cyber incident disclosure drew criticism
-
Supercharge trust for operationsWhitepaper Innovating through uncertainty
-
Western Digital suffers cyber attack, shuts down systemsNews Customers are taking to Twitter to report they’re unable to log into their storage products through Western Digital’s online portal
-
Lazarus blamed for 3CX attack as byte-to-byte code match discoveredNews Additional analysis suggested 3CX developer teams ignored "red flags"
-
Some GitHub users must take action after RSA SSH host key exposedNews One cloud security expert likened the incident to the infamous HeartBleed bug from 2014
-
Latitude hack now under state investigation as customers struggle to protect their accountsNews The cyber attack has affected around 330,000 customers, although the company has said this is likely to increase
-
Four-year-old iframe flaw allows hackers to steal Bitwarden passwordsNews The password manager has known about the issue since 2018, publicising it in a report in 2018
-
WH Smith hit by cyber attack, current and former staff data accessedNews The company stated that it is notifying staff members who have been affected
