Morrison Foerster (“MoFo”) has advised SoftBank Group Corp. (“SoftBank”) on its acquisition of U.S.-based semiconductor design company Ampere Computing Holdings LLC (“Ampere”) for US$6.5 billion.
Ampere is a semiconductor company that designs high-performance, energy-efficient processors specialized for next-generation cloud computing and AI workloads. The transaction is aligned with SoftBank’s broader strategic vision and commitment to driving innovation in AI and compute.
The transaction was announced on March 20, 2025, and is expected to close in the latter half of 2025, but remains subject to regulatory approvals including U.S. antitrust clearance and approval by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
MoFo’s global team was led by Tokyo office Managing Partner and head of the Tokyo M+A team, Ken Siegel, and Lauren Bellerjeau, Corporate partner (Austin). The global deal team included Corporate partners Eric McCrath, Matt O’Donnell, and Michael Santos (San Francisco), and associates Mohammed Alismail and Hannah Kim (New York), Jacob Robart (Boston), Gabriella Fortun (Miami), and Samantha Rose (San Francisco); Antitrust partners Marie-Claire Strawbridge (London), Kerry Jones and Jeff Jaeckel (Washington, D.C.), and Michael Miller (New York), and associate Guillermo Floria (Brussels); co-chair of the AI Group, Tessa Schwartz (San Francisco); Technology Transactions associates Reid Knabe, Michelle Kelley and Kevin Kallet (San Francisco); Executive Compensation + Benefits partner Joshua Lerner (New York) and associate Yuan Xia (Palo Alto); National Security and Government Contracts + Public Procurement partners Charles Capito and James Brower (Washington, D.C.); co-chair of the Tax practice, Anthony Carbone (New York), and Tax partner Dave Sturgeon (Los Angeles); Investment Control partner Felix Helmstädter; and Employment + Labor partner Michael Schulman, and associate Melissa Harclerode.
