NVIDIA buys ARM: what it can mean for Android

High-level corporate moves are always shocking by the numbers. Sometimes they can also be because of what they will mean for the future of the sector. This is what happened with ARM and its acquisition by Nvidia.

In recent times, it was rumored that the company could be sold to one of the main players in consumer and business technology, and it has been.

The Android of the past: SoC processors throughout history

Our devices are getting more powerful, smarter and more efficient. Would you like to take a tour of SoCs in the history of Android?

Nvidia buys ARM for $ 40 billion

As announced a few hours ago, Softbank, owner of ARM since 2016, has accepted the offer of the American company Nvidia to take over the company that designs some of the most important processors in the world.

Those $ 40 billion They will be handed over to Softbank as long as the state regulators of the countries involved give their approval. And it is not trivial since the approval of the European Union (including the United Kingdom), China and the United States is needed.

The why of the purchase

A movement of this draft is important even for a sector as large as that of semiconductors.

Nvidia has committed to a future in which mobile devices will continue to be key. We are talking about smartphones, yes, but also about other smart devices, from glasses to jackets, through the Internet of Things.

The San José company wants to position itself in the technology sector that can grow the most in the coming decades. And it will do so in a much more relevant way than it has done so far.

Another relevant aspect is the artificial intelligence, where Nvidia is betting very hard, in addition to the graphics of many of its products.

How will this affect Android

As I’m sure many of you already know, most Android smartphones use a processor from brands such as Qualcomm or Mediatek. Both license the design of components to ARM, which has its strong point in this business.

GeForce NOW is no longer exclusive to Nvidia: it will reach more Android TV

NVIDIA is currently working on bringing GeForce NOW to devices with Android TV that will soon be able to use the app officially.

That Nvidia, which makes its own processors, bought ARM could mean that all other manufacturers have a problem. But it seems that it will not.

The company has made it quite clear that it will continue to maintain the licenses that allow other brands to create their own processors. From Samsung to Apple they need, at least for the moment, that this continues like this.

In addition, Nvidia knows that it cannot turn off the tap, at least suddenly, because the antitrust commissions of the different countries would veto the purchase.

An Nvidia cell phone?

One of the possible medium-term movements of the company is the creation of a smartphone that complements its hardware catalog.

The firm has one of the best Set Top Boxes with Android, one that also takes special care of aspects as delicate as updates.

For at least a year and a half or two years, it does not seem that we are going to see changes since the states will have to analyze the purchase proposal. Beyond that horizon, we could begin to sense a turn in the current situation.

It does not seem that, at least in the short term, Nvidia will want to become something similar to Apple since it does not have its own operating system, but it could become something new in the industry, something that changes the current status quo.

The entry NVIDIA buys ARM: what it can mean for Android appears first in The Free Android.