The UK’s competition watchdog invited third parties to comment on the impact a proposed $40 billion takeover of Arm by Nvidia is likely to have on the market, ahead of launching an investigation into the deal later this year.

In a statement, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was an early opportunity for interested parties to submit a view on the deal, which was struck in September 2020.

Nvidia plans to acquire the Intellectual Property (IP) Group business of UK-based Arm from its current owner SoftBank Group, as part of a push into the mobile semiconductor sector.

The CMA noted Arm develops and licences IP and software tools for chip designs, with many of its products and services used to support a wide range of applications used by businesses and consumers across the UK. It explained it will use the investigation to explore the possible effect on competition in the UK, along with considering whether Arm has an incentive to withdraw, raise prices or reduce the quality of its IP licensing services to Nvidia’s rivals.

It added it would not be able to consider other potential effects the merger may have on employment or industrial strategy, while any national security concerns would be a matter for the UK government.

The deal also requires approval from the European Union, US and China, which Nvidia said in September would take 18 months to complete.