In Depth: China Plays Kingmaker in Nvidia’s $40 Billion Bid for Arm

Could China play the spoiler again for another blockbuster semiconductor merger, even though both parties to the deal aren’t Chinese?

Analysts and observers say that Beijing could potentially step in for an encore with its potential to veto the mega-merger announced last week that would see Nvidia Corp. buy Arm Holdings Ltd. of Britain for $40 billion from Japan’s SoftBank. Such a veto would come just two years after U.S. telecom chip giant Qualcomm scrapped its plan to buy Dutch peer NXP Semiconductors for $44 billion after failing to get Beijing’s approval.