SoftBank Group announced Wednesday that it will acquire Ampere Computing, a chip designer founded by former Intel executive James, as a strategic move to expand its investment in AI infrastructure.
Ampere will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank, which is scheduled to close in the second half of 2025.
Ampere’s lead investors Carlyle and Oracle will sell their shares at a startup in Santa Clara, California. According to a SoftBank statement, Carlyle holds a 59.65% stake, while Oracle holds a 32.27%. The startup employs 1,000 semiconductor engineers.
In 2021, SoftBank considered securing a minority stake in Ampere.
SoftBank is ARM Holdings’ largest shareholder, and Ampere develops server chips based on the ARM computing platform, with both companies as strong partners. (SoftBank acquired the UK chip designer arm for $32 billion in 2016 and was released in 2023.) Ampere’s customers include companies such as Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud, Alibaba, Tencent, HPE and Supermicro.
Softbank said Ampere’s acquisition will enhance its capabilities in key areas such as AI and calculate and promote its growth initiatives. The latest acquisition announcement follows a series of deals made by the Japanese technology giant over the past few months, including a partnership with Openai to develop sophisticated enterprise AI called “Cristal Intelligence.” SoftBank has also invested in Stargate, an AI infrastructure project that is building OpenAI data centers across the US, and has purchased old, sharp factories in Japan.
“The future of artificial superintelligence requires breakthrough computing power,” said Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp.
Ampere was founded in 2017 by James. James previously worked for Intel and private equity firm Carlisle, where he served on Oracle’s board of directors. The company initially specialised in cloud-native computing, but has since expanded its scope to include sustainable AI calculations.
“With our shared vision of moving forward with AI, we are excited to join SoftBank Group and partner with a portfolio of major technology companies,” James said. “This is a great result for our team and we are excited to advance our Ampereone roadmap for high-performance arm processors and AI.”