Arm Holdings Faces FTC Probe Over Chip Tech Licensing

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has launched an antitrust investigation into Arm Holdings, the British chip designer, over its licensing practices for semiconductor technology. The probe, reported by Bloomberg News, focuses on whether Arm is illegally monopolizing parts of the semiconductor market.

The FTC is examining whether Arm will reject or downgrade licensing agreements for its chip blueprints, which are crucial for designing central processing units. The regulator notified Arm of the investigation earlier this year and demanded document preservation.

Arm derives a significant portion of its revenue from licensing its technology to major clients such as Nvidia and Apple, earning royalties on design use.

Regulators outside the U.S. are also scrutinizing Arm's practices. South Korea's antitrust authority investigated Arm's Seoul offices in November last year as part of ongoing reviews of its licensing policies.