Jane Lanhee Lee

(Reuters) – SoftBank Group Corp sold Arm Ltd to U.S. Chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ) Corp is now dead, a source close to the situation told Reuters Monday. The source also said that Arm planned for an IPO rather than the sale which could have been as high as $80 billion.

According to the source, Arm Chief Executive Simon Segars indicated that he plans to quit. Rene Haas will take over.

The 2020 deal was announced but faced many regulatory obstacles. In December the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit to stop the deal. They argued that Nvidia’s purchase could hurt competition in emerging markets for self-driving car chips and new categories of networking chips.

British and EU regulators are also monitoring the buyout, as it is being criticized for raising prices and reducing choice.

Arm for Softbank, which bought the company for $32 billion, would have had to sell. Masayoshi Son is the Chief Executive and has expressed admiration for Arm’s potential, but is cutting his stakes at major assets in order to increase cash.

SoftBank shares rose 0.8% during morning Tokyo trading.

Nvidia’s graphic processor chips have made it the U.S. most valued chip company. Graphic processors are still essential for gaming but they have been increasingly used in advanced fields such as artificial intelligence.

Arm would have made Nvidia more competitive with its rivals such as Intel (NASDAQ) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Arm leases its technology and architecture for customers like Qualcomm (NASDAQ) Inc., Apple (NASDAQ) and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. They design chips to power everything from phones to computers.

Nvidia did not respond to a request for comment. SoftBank and Arm did not respond immediately to Reuters’ request for comment.

The deal’s value was initially pegged at $40 billion. It rose as Nvidia stock prices rose to $80 billion in late 2013. However, Nvidia stock has declined since.

In January, a spokesperson for Nvidia stated that the company believes the deal “provides an opportunity accelerate Arm, boost competition, and innovate.”

Softbank’s Arm-Nvidia agreement with Softbank was first reported by The Financial Times.

According to FT, one person said that the Japanese investment giant would be paid a $1.25 million breakup fee.