This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

SoftBank’s (SOBKY) ambition to dominate the AI hardware race just took another dramatic turn. According to people familiar with the matter, Masayoshi Son’s conglomerate explored a potential takeover of Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL) earlier this year a deal that could have rewritten semiconductor history as the industry’s largest-ever acquisition. Son has reportedly analyzed Marvell for years, viewing it as a strategic complement to Arm Holdings, the UK chip designer SoftBank controls. Although negotiations broke down over valuation terms, people close to the matter said the interest could be revived, given Son’s continued push to build the hardware backbone of the AI era.

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Marvell’s shares jumped as much as 13% in Asian trading after the news surfaced, recovering part of this year’s 16% loss that left the company valued at roughly $80 billion. Led by CEO Matthew Murphy, Marvell designs chips used in data centers that power cloud computing and artificial intelligence. The company posted record quarterly revenue of $2 billion but faced a steep selloff in March when its outlook fell short of investor expectations the worst stock drop in more than two decades. Despite a strong client roster that includes Amazon Web Services and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), TD Cowen downgraded the stock to hold in September, citing concerns about the visibility of future customer demand.

For SoftBank, bringing Marvell and Arm under one roof could create a potent challenger to Nvidia, Broadcom, and Qualcomm in the custom AI chip market. Yet such a deal would face serious regulatory hurdles, given Washington’s focus on keeping advanced semiconductor assets under US control, even amid Son’s friendly relationship with President Donald Trump. The two companies also have yet to align on management structure, with Arm’s CEO Rene Haas and Marvell’s Matthew Murphy reportedly struggling to bridge operational visions. Still, Son’s AI ambitions remain vast. Beyond acquisitions, SoftBank is advancing its $500 billion Stargate project with OpenAI and Oracle to build next-generation data centers in the US a signal that Son’s appetite for bold bets on AI infrastructure remains as strong as ever.