ARM被400亿美元卖给Nvidia公司了!

这则新闻引发了全球半导体行业的普遍关注,这主要源于ARM的商业模式与ARM处理器架构在全球的广泛应用性。ARM作为一家处理器架构IP提供商,客户遍及全球多个国家,三星、苹果、华为等半导体芯片设计公司都是ARM的授权客户,他们很多都是此次收购案购买方Nvidia的竞争对手。这就好比,一个运动员买断了他所从事的运动赛事的裁判,该运动员信誓旦旦地保证,将在今后的运动比赛中让这名裁判保持中立。

作为ARM的联合创始人,早在收购案之初,赫尔曼·豪瑟(HermannHauser)博士就发出警告,指出Nvidia收购ARM将是将是一场“灾难”。在Nvidia和软银官宣收购协议之后,赫尔曼·豪瑟(Hermann Hauser)博士激动回应,直接发表公开信,请求政府拯救Arm,并建立了一个“Save Arm”的网站,呼吁更多人参与“救救Arm”的签名请愿计划。

救救ARM官网截图

在信中,赫尔曼·豪瑟(Hermann Hauser)博士指出,将Arm出售给Nvidia将破坏Arm的商业模式的基础,从长远来看,这是国家经济主权的问题。他指出“由于美国总统在与中国的贸易战中武器化了技术主导地位,因此除非英国拥有自己的讨价还价武器,否则英国将成为附带损害”,“主权曾经主要是一个地理问题,但是现在经济主权同样重要。把英国最强大的贸易武器交给美国,正使英国成为美国的附庸国。”

以下是赫尔曼·豪瑟(Hermann Hauser)博士的公开信(译文来自百度翻译)。

尊敬的首相:

作为Arm的创始人之一,我非常关注Arm向Nvidia出售的提议。我在剑桥的许多同事也有同样的担忧,剑桥是英国金融和电子行业,他们都在共同签署这封信。

首先,我们关心的是曼彻斯特的贝尔斯菲尔德和谢菲尔德的数千名员工。当总部迁往美国时,这将不可避免地导致英国失业和失去影响力,正如卡夫收购吉百利时所看到的那样。

其次,将Arm出售给Nvidia将破坏Arm商业模式的基础,Arm的商业模式将成为半导体行业的瑞士,与500多家被许可方进行公平的交易。其中大部分是英伟达的竞争对手。其中包括许多英国公司。相反的保证应具有法律约束力。

第三,也是最重要的长期问题,这是一个国家经济主权问题:

Arm是英国仅存的一家科技公司,在手机微处理器领域占据主导地位。它的市场份额超过95%。英国受到了美国技术主导地位的影响,这些公司包括谷歌(Google)、Facebook、亚马逊(Amazon)、Netflix、苹果(Apple)等。由于美国总统在与中国的贸易战中把技术主导权武器化,除非英国拥有自己的贸易武器来讨价还价,否则英国将成为附带损害。Arm为苹果、三星、索尼、华为以及世界上几乎所有其他品牌的智能手机提供动力,因此可以对所有这些品牌施加影响。

出售给英伟达将意味着Arm将受到美国OFAC法规的约束。英国电子行业有数百家公司雇用数万名在产品中使用武器的人。其中许多出口到包括中国在内的全球主要市场。他们都必须遵守美国海外资产控制办公室的规定。

这使英国处于一种令人不快的境地,即允许向谁出售武器的决定权将在白宫而不是唐宁街。

主权过去主要是一个地理问题,但现在经济主权同样重要。把英国最强大的贸易武器交给美国,正使英国成为美国的附庸国。

要让这项交易得以通过,必须具备三个条件。

它们都必须具有法律约束力,否则毫无用处:

为英国ARM雇员提供具有法律约束力的工作保障

具有法律约束力的协议,Nvidia不得获得任何优惠待遇比其他Arm许可证持有人。

英国必须获得美国OFAC法规的豁免,以便保证英国公司能够不受限制地使用我们自己的微处理器技术。

与出售给英伟达公司(Nvidia)相比,自然的选择是在伦敦证券交易所(londonstockexchange)公开Arm,使其再次成为英国所有的公司,并获得国家经济安全的黄金股。由于你已经花了5亿英镑帮助OneWeb摆脱破产法第11章,这对英国来说可能没有Arm那么重要,你可以花10-20亿英镑作为主要投资者,在伦敦证券交易所(London Stock Exchange)进行IPO,并获得一份黄金股,这样这个问题就不会再发生了。对于软银来说,IPO一直是获得流动性的必经之路。

如果你不让Arm再次成为一家英国公司,为国家经济安全赢得黄金份额,历史将记住你是一个在筹码下跌时未能为国家利益采取行动的人。

谨上

Hermann Hauser FRS博士,KBE

公开信原文:

Dear Prime Minister,

As one of the founders of Arm I am extremely concerned about the proposed sale of Arm to Nvidia． This concern is shared by many of my colleagues in Cambridge, the UK financial and electronics industry who are all co-signing this letter．

Firstly, we are concerned about the impact on jobs in Cambridge, Manchester, Belfast, Glasgow, Sheffield and Warwick where thousands of Arm employees work． When the headquarters move to the US this will inevitably lead to the loss of jobs and influence in the UK as we have seen with the Cadbury takeover by Kraft．

Secondly, the sale of Arm to Nvidia will destroy the very basis of Arm’s business model which is to be the Switzerland of the semiconductor industry dealing in an even-handed way with its over 500 licensees． Most of them are Nvidia’s competitors． Among them are many UK companies． Assurances to the contrary should be legally binding．

Thirdly, and most importantly for the long term, it is an issue of national economic sovereignty:

Arm is the only remaining UK technology company, with a dominant position in mobile phone microprocessors． It has a market share of over 95%． The UK has suffered from American technology dominance by companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Apple and others． As the American president has weaponised technology dominance in his trade war with China, the UK will become collateral damage unless it has its own trade weapons to bargain with． Arm powers the smartphones of Apple, Samsung, Sony, Huawei and practically every other brand in the world and therefore can exert influence on all of them．

A sale to Nvidia will mean that Arm becomes subject to the US OFAC regulations． There are hundreds of companies in the UK electronics industry employing tens of thousands of people who use ARMs in their products． Many of them export to major global markets including China． They will all have to comply with the US OFAC regulations．

This puts Britain in the invidious position that the decision about who Arm is allowed to sell to will be made in the White House and not in Downing Street．

Sovereignty used to be mainly a geographic issue, but now economic sovereignty is equally important． Surrendering UK’s most powerful trade weapon to the US is making Britain a US vassal state．

There are three conditions that are imperative for this deal to be allowed to go through．

They all have to be legally binding or they are useless:

Legally binding job guarantees for Arm employees in the UK

Legally binding agreement that Nvidia must not gain any preferential treatment over other Arm licensees．

Britain must get an exemption from the US OFAC regulation so that UK companies are guaranteed unfettered access to our own microprocessor technology．

The natural alternative to an Arm sale to Nvidia is to take Arm public on the London Stock Exchange and make it a British owned company again with a Golden Share for national economic security． As you have spent ?500m to help OneWeb out of Chapter 11, which arguably is not as important to Britain as Arm, you could spend ?1-2bn as the anchor investor for an IPO on the London Stock Exchange and get a Golden Share for it so that this problem cannot happen again． An IPO was always the declared route to liquidity for Softbank．

If you do not make Arm a British owned company again with a Golden Share for national economic security, history will remember you as the person who, when the chips are down, failed to act in the national interest．

Yours sincerely

Dr Hermann Hauser FRS, KBE

来源:21ic