South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix says that it is considering forming a consortium with strategic investors to acquire Arm.
The idea is still in early stages, and comes as Arm prepares for a roughly $60bn initial public offering (IPO).
"We are reviewing possibly forming a consortium, together with strategic partners, to jointly acquire [Arm]," said Park Jung-ho, vice chairman and CEO of SK hynix, said per the Yonhap news agency.
"I don't believe Arm is a company that could be bought by one company."
One company did try: Nvidia in 2020 announced it would buy Arm for $40bn, a price that jumped to around $60bn thanks to Nvidia's share price increasing in value.
But the deal collapsed due to aggressive regulatory pushback.
When the deal fell apart in February, Arm appointed Arm IP Products Group head Rene Haas as CEO.
A month later, the company said that it would lay off 12-15 percent of its staff, putting 1,000 jobs at risk.
"I want to buy Arm, if not entirely," Park Jung-ho said. "It doesn't have to be buying a majority of its shares to be able to control the company."
SK Hynix primarily develops dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips and flash memory chips, and is one of the world's largest semiconductor companies.
Earlier this week, South Korean antitrust regulators approved SK Hynix's acquisition of local chipmaker Key Foundry, which makes chips for power management, display drivers and microcontroller unit semiconductors.
Around two percent of SK Hynix's revenue comes from sales of non-memory products and its foundry business, with the Key Foundry acquisition expected to double that number.
