After months of speculation, Nvidia has finally outbid Intel and Microsoft to acquire Israeli chip-maker Mellanox for a massive $6.9 Billion. The deal is expected to close at the end of 2019.
The bidding started with reports first coming in from Redmond, that Microsoft has bid for the supercomputer chip maker. Then Intel came in the picture, looking to buy it for around $6 billion according to multiple reports. Finally NVIDIA emerged in the last day with a $7 billion+ all-cash offer, according to reports. All of those offers are above the $5.9 Billion market cap that Mellanox commands on stock markets as of now.
All of this comes after reports of a possible bidding ware between the three tech giants. According to a Reuters report, Nvidia has offered a bid to acquire Israeli chip-designer Mellanox, joining Intel, Xilinx, and reportedly Microsoft in a bidding war. Microsoft has already made quite a lot of acquisitions from the country’s tech ecosystem.
Nvidia was prepared to offer 10% more than the $6 million initially proposed by Intel to acquire Mellanox. The company has walked the talk on that front. Mellanox makes chips and hardware just like any other chip maker, albeit the company builds it for “supercomputers”.
According to a report from Calcalist, Nvidia’s biggest advantage is their ability to obtain Chinese and US regulatory app, as Intel and Mellanox control the market for InfiniBand technology, a network communications standard commonly used in supercomputers.
Nvidia has already gained experience in dealing in this region. The company has been dealing it’s processors in the region for the past nine years, and has also invested in many tech startups in the region like Zebra Medicals and Deep Instinct. Nvidia have also established an R&D centre for artificial intelligence product development, in Israel.
This story was earlier published with the title “Nvidia enters bidding war to acquire Israeli chip maker Mellanox“. It has been updated to reflect latest developments on the story.
