Richard Waters writing for FT:
Nvidia has admitted that its planned acquisition of UK chip design company Arm is unlikely to be completed within the 18-month period it laid out, as it faces drawn-out regulatory investigations around the world.
Meanwhile, Nvidia has faced an extended antitrust review and questions about the impact on national security in the UK, where the deal has become a politically charged symbol of the country’s loss of corporate influence in the face of foreign takeovers.
Nvidia has insisted until now that it would hit its deadline for the deal to close by March. Its agreement with Japanese conglomerate SoftBank gave it until the end of 2022 to complete the purchase, Huang said.
The reason for tracking this is around the eventual synergies of GPU with the ARM based CPU’s (which have gained prominence for “power efficient” while accelerating the gains in ML algorithms. I wouldn’t be surprised if anyone chains them together to create a “supercomputer”. Increased regulatory oversight will allow most companies in this space to defer purchases or acquisitions. There is also a distinct shift towards “anti-monopoly.” I have heard NVidia doesn’t play too well with the “competitors”.
I am more concerned around “edge computing” where GPU based systems will allow for swift translation of commands. It opens up myriad applications – e.g. faster translation of image guidance in XRT or having adaptive systems and create notification systems around significant treatment diversions. It will require an uptick around “computer vision” and image analysis. While there are many vendors around the “cutting-edge” radiation therapy, it is a painful process to have them integrated.
These are interesting times.
RadOncNotes 