Ampere Computing, the company founded in 2017-ish (the press release says 2018 but other parts of the site say 2017) by former Intel president Renée James — a University of Oregon alum — with a significant Portland area footprint, has announced that SoftBank Group will be acquiring Ampere for $6.5 billion in an all cash deal.
“With a shared vision for advancing AI, we are excited to join SoftBank Group and partner with its portfolio of leading technology companies,” said Renée J. James, Founder and CEO of Ampere. “This is a fantastic outcome for our team, and we are excited to drive forward our AmpereOne® roadmap for high performance Arm processors and AI.”
According to the Portland Business Journal, “Ampere’s Pearl District office is the nexus for about 250 of its 1,400 global employees. The company said it expected no changes to its Portland presence.”
The all-cash deal announced on Wednesday comes as SoftBank steps up its investment in the infrastructure needed to power artificial intelligence, which founder Masayoshi Son has latched on to as his latest grand bet on a transformative technology.
It follows a series of multi-billion dollar investments announced in recent months, including in ChatGPT operator OpenAI, the Stargate project to build AI data center infrastructure in the U.S. and Cristal, a joint venture with OpenAI to develop AI services in Japan for corporate customers.
For more, see the transaction detail from SoftBank Group.
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