SoftBank’s Arm considers buying Oracle-backed Ampere Computing- Per Bloomberg

SoftBank and its British chip designing unit Arm are considering a potential takeover of Oracle-backed semiconductor firm Ampere Computing, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday evening.

Speculation over the deal comes as Ampere explores strategic options, including a potential sale, Bloomberg reported.

Reports in September showed Ampere, which is privately owned, was considering a potential sale. Ampere develops Arm-based processors for applications across a wide variety of fields, most notably data centers, and was founded by ex-Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) President Renee James in 2017.

The company’s data center chips have come into increased focus in recent years with the artificial intelligence boom, which saw heightened capital spending on data center infrastructure to power AI programs.

Ampere has a partnership with Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL). The cloud firm holds a nearly 30% stake in Ampere and has an option to buy it.

Beyond Oracle, Ampere has partnerships with several major tech companies, including Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), to develop chip technology geared towards heavy workloads, especially those from AI programs.