Arm will cut up to 15% of its workers following failed acquisition by NVIDIA, says report

What you need to know

• Arm will reportedly cut hundreds of employees, which accounts for up to 15% of the company's workforce.
• Arm expanded its workforce after the announcement of plans to be acquired by NVIDIA, but that deal has since fallen through.
• NVIDIA failed to acquire Arm for $40 billion due to "significant regulatory challenges."

Arm will cut up to 15% of its workforce according to a report by The Telegraph. Up to 1,000 Arm employees will lose their jobs, the majority of which will be based in the United States and the United Kingdom. Details of Arm's plans come from an email sent out to employees that was seen by The Telegraph. The Guardian reported that Arm has over 6,500 employees, which provides context for the size of the upcoming job cuts.

"This is going to be a tough time for everyone, so I want to be clear on why we are doing this," said Arm Chief Executive Rene Haas in the email. "We need to be more disciplined about our costs and where we're investing. To stay competitive, we need to remove duplication of work now that we are one Arm; stop work that is no longer critical to our future success; and think about how we get work done."

The job cuts come only weeks after it was revealed that NVIDIA would not purchase Arm for $40 billion. That deal was initially announced back in September 2020 but has since failed to transpire. Softbank, the owners of Arm, confirmed that the planned acquisition by NVIDIA fell through after facing "significant regulatory challenges."

According to the Telegraph, Arm had expanded its workforce following the announcement of the since-failed acquisition by NVIDIA. Reported plans were to double the number of Arm employees, but the company has now gone in a different direction.

"Like any business, Arm is continually reviewing its business plan to ensure the company has the right balance between opportunities and cost discipline," said Arm in a statement to The Telegraph. "Unfortunately, this process includes proposed redundancies across Arm's global workforce."