Nvidia Corp has submitted an application to Chinese competition regulators to review a $40 billion takeover of UK chip designer Arm, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The application was made in recent weeks and sets in motion a period of scrutiny that could take up to 18 months, according to Chinese antitrust lawyers, the report https://on.ft.com/3w4hY8j added.

Nvidia said last month it expects to close the Arm acquisition by March 2022, after having struck a deal with Japan's SoftBank Group in September 2020.

In February, Bloomberg News reported that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission had opened an in-depth probe into Nvidia's agreement to buy Arm.

  - Reuters