American antitrust authorities are suing to try to stop one of the largest takeovers in the technology sector in years.

The chip manufacturer Nvidia wants to take over the British specialist Arm Technologies.

The deal was valued at roughly $ 40 billion at the time of its announcement in 2020.

Because the purchase was to be partially compensated for in Nvidia shares, which have risen significantly in value since then, the transaction value has now risen to $ 75 billion.

Winand von Petersdorff-Campen

Business correspondent in Washington.

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The American Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suing the takeover, which it claims would give Nvidia control over a chip specialist on which competitors depend to develop their own semiconductors.

The combined company would have the resources and incentives to halt development of next generation semiconductors.

"Switzerland of the semiconductor industry"

"The FTC lawsuit is intended to send a strong signal that we are acting decisively to protect our critical markets from illegal vertical takeovers that have far-reaching and harmful effects on future innovations," said Holly Vedova, the agency's competition director, in an FTC - Quote message.

The lawsuit represents the first major case by the FTC under Lina Khan. Biden had raised the proven critic of market concentration in the technology sector to the leadership position of the FTC. The authority is currently led by four commissioners, equally from both parties, who unanimously support the lawsuit.

Arm belongs to the Japanese Softbank group. The company does not build finished computer chips, but develops semiconductor designs and so-called architectures, which it then licenses to other companies, including Nvidia. Arm's customers rely on their technology to manufacture chips for smartphones, cars and data centers. Arm had previously positioned itself as a technologically neutral supplier to companies from all over the world and was therefore referred to by experts as the "Switzerland" of the semiconductor industry.

The FTC fears disadvantages in three areas after a takeover: in semi-autonomous driving, in the safety and efficiency of data centers and in cloud computing.

In addition, the cartel watchdogs fear that Nvidia could gain insight into the protected technology of rivals that was developed with Arms' help.

In this process, the FTC is cooperating with cartel watchdogs in England, the EU and Japan, some of whom are also critical of the takeover.

British and Chinese authorities are also looking into the takeover.