The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) delivered a report on Nvidia’s proposed $40 billion acquisition of Arm to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, who will rule on whether the deal could operate against the public interest.

In April, the Secretary of State decided to intervene in the proposed acquisition due to national security concerns and required the CMA to prepare a report.

Today (20 July) the CMA stated its report includes an assessment on whether the deal could be deemed anti-competitive, along with a summary of any national security concerns raised by third parties.

Nvidia has pledged to maintain Arm’s independence if the takeover is completed. Arm licences its designs to multiple chipmakers and regulators want to know whether the US company would receive preferential treatment.

The deal requires approval from authorities in the UK, EU, US and China, none of which have signed off yet.

Other chipmakers have spoken out against the deal, with some indicating they would be ready to invest in Arm if Nvidia does not buy the company.

Intel and Qualcomm have both expressed interest in buying all or part of Arm from SoftBank Group, which agreed the Nvidia deal in 2020.

At the time, SoftBank was losing money and was eager to raise cash, but record profits in its fiscal Q4 (calendar Q1) earned it more in one quarter than the entire sum it would net from selling Arm to Nvidia.

Other chipmakers back the deal, with The Sunday Times naming Marvell, MediaTek and Broadcom as supporters.

Bloomberg reported Google and Microsoft are urging US competition regulators to kill the deal.