(Reuters) – Japanese technology investment group SoftBank Group (TYO:) is majority owned by it arm Holdings (NASDAQ:) is exploring a deal for Oracle-backed semiconductor company Ampere Computing, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
Ampere has attracted interest from Arm while exploring its strategic options, the source said, adding that talks are still not ultimately possible.
The news was first reported by Bloomberg News.
Arm declined to comment when contacted by Reuters, while Ampere and SoftBank did not immediately respond to requests.
Ampere, which is headed by former Intel executives, is working with a financial advisor to help take care of the field acquisition, Bloomberg News reported in September.
Ampere, founded by Rene James, the former head of Intel (NASDAQ:), uses technology from Arm to make CPU chips used by Oracle (NYSE:), Alphabet (NASDAQ:) Google and others.
The startup focused on making chips that are more power efficient than those produced by industry leader Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:).
Oracle has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Ampere since its founding, according to filings.
