Oracle's investment in Ampere Computing could give it the option for future ownership.
First reported by Bloomberg and The Business Times, Oracle currently owns 29 percent of the chipmaker, and can exercise "future investments" that would lead to a controlling ownership in the company.
Oracle, in addition to equity in Ampere, has invested significant amounts in the company in the last couple of years. Oracle invested $600 million in the fiscal year ending on May 31 in convertible debt, and $400m in the 2023 fiscal year.
That debt financing will mature in January 2026, and should Oracle exercise options through January 2027 to acquire additional equity, it would then have a controlling ownership of the company.
Oracle revealed this on September 25 during a regulatory filing which also noted that Ampere's founder and CEO Renee James will not run for reelection as director.
Earlier this month, reports emerged that Ampere was exploring a potential sale. Bloomberg reported at the time that Ampere had been working with a financial advisor for several months exploring a sale. It could also opt to remain independent, according to the source.
Initially based on Arm’s Neoverse blueprints, Ampere now designs its newest range, Ampere One, with entirely in-house Arm cores.
As well as working with Microsoft and Google, Ampere designs chips for the likes of Tencent and TikTok owner ByteDance.
Ampere currently estimates that 95 percent of Oracle's services use Ampere chips, and the companies recently teamed up with Uber to enable Uber to use custom Ampere chips on OCI.
Despite this, Oracle has said that it has reduced purchases of Ampere chips. The company placed a $104.1m prepayment order in 2023 for Ampere processors, as well as $4.7m directly and $43.2m indirectly. 2024 saw Oracle by $3m directly and none in the market. According to the company, it has around $101.1m remaining under the prepayment.
