TNB Tech Minute: IBM’s Planned $6.4 Billion HashiCorp Deal Faces Scrutiny
WSJ Tech News Briefing
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ADP knows any big thing, any small thing, any trendy thing, even a trendy thing that everyone knows isn't a great idea, but management just wants us to give it a try for a bit can change the world of work. From HR to payroll, ADP designs forward-thinking solutions to take on the next anything. Here's your TNB Tech Minute for Monday, December 30th. I'm Cordelia James for The Wall Street Journal.
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority says it's considering whether IBM's planned $6.4 billion takeover of HashiCorp would affect competition. The antitrust watchdog set a provisional February deadline to decide whether to clear the deal or refer it for further investigation. If cleared, the takeover would push IBM further into cloud and artificial intelligence. San Francisco-based HashiCorp makes tools and products that help its customers set up cloud infrastructure.
NVIDIA has closed its acquisition of Israeli software startup Run.ai after months of regulatory scrutiny. NVIDIA agreed to buy Run.ai in April with the goal to expand its reach in software for AI data centers. Run.ai software helps coordinate and maximize the use of NVIDIA's AI chips. The European Commission signed off on the deal in December. The U.S. Justice Department also examined the deal. Run.ai's founders said that the software would be open source,
making it available for others to use and modify. And a year-end tech sell-off rattled markets for a second straight session. Major U.S. stock indexes slumped. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.2%, leading the day's declines. Tech names such as Arm Holdings, Broadcom, and Micron dropped more than 2%. The Nasdaq had fallen 1.5% on Friday.
And before we go, heads up, we'll be back with our next TNB Tech Minute on Thursday, January 2nd. For a deeper dive into what's happening in tech, check out tomorrow's Tech News Briefing podcast.