SoftBank Group Corp., led by legendary investor Masayoshi Son, has cleared a major antitrust hurdle in its $6.5 billion acquisition of semiconductor design firm Ampere Computing LLC. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has concluded its review, issuing an "early termination" notice that accelerates the deal's completion.

This acquisition, announced in March, marks another strategic move by SoftBank to strengthen its position in AI computing infrastructure. Ampere specializes in designing high-performance ARM-based server CPUs for cloud-native and AI data centers—a critical component in the rapidly expanding AI ecosystem.

With SoftBank already holding a 90% stake in ARM Holdings, the addition of Ampere creates a formidable ARM-based server CPU alliance. Ampere’s product lineup includes the 80-core Altra, 128-core Altra Max for hyperscale clouds, and the upcoming 5nm AmpereOne with 256 cores, targeting superior power efficiency and density.

ARM’s architecture is gaining traction in data centers, challenging Intel’s x86 dominance. Industry leaders like Nvidia (Grace CPU), Amazon (Graviton), Google (Axion), and Microsoft (Cobalt 100) have adopted ARM for its energy efficiency—delivering up to 3.5x better performance per watt than x86 in AI workloads.

For SoftBank, this deal accelerates Son’s vision of dominating AI infrastructure. By integrating ARM’s IP, Ampere’s server CPUs, and Graphcore’s AI accelerators, SoftBank aims to build a vertically integrated hardware stack. The strategy could further erode x86’s 80% server CPU market share, as ARM’s data center presence grows from under 1% in 2021 to 12% in 2024.

Son, 67, is betting big on AI’s future, leveraging SoftBank’s stakes in ARM, OpenAI, Oracle, and TSMC—including a potential $500 billion "Stargate" data center project with Abu Dhabi’s MGX. His goal: position SoftBank as a core player in the AI revolution, rivaling Nvidia’s influence.