NVIDIA's Arm acquisition threatened by European vacation schedules

What time is it? Summertime.

What you need to know

• NVIDIA put $40 billion on the table to acquire Arm.
• The acquisition's timeline keeps stretching as roadblocks crop up.
• The newest roadblock is European summer vacation.

Regulatory bodies from the U.S., China, and Europe all need to give speedy approval for NVIDIA's Arm acquisition if the RTX wellspring is to proceed with its purchase in a timely fashion as it previously planned. However, it looks like the most dreaded of roadblocks is about to stretch NVIDIA's plans out longer than anticipated. That roadblock is, of course, European vacation schedules.

According to The Information, both companies may not be on track to file their deal's approval request on time in Europe, meaning the European Union's antitrust regulator might not receive it before Europe's big summer vacation months (via Reuters). In short, once June ends, there's no use submitting anything until September.

That'd put months of delay on a plan that's already having regulatory issues. NVIDIA wants to get this deal in the bag by March of 2022, but setbacks keep mounting. If March 2022 arrives and no deal is set in stone and fully equipped with regulator approvals, the backup deadline is September 2022. After that, either company can opt out of the agreement.

What will happen is anyone's guess. NVIDIA's CEO remains confident that the deal will work out, at least when it comes to what he says in public. But that confidence may be a facade, as there is no man or organization in a rush that doesn't clench up at the thought of a European summer.