The disclosure came Wednesday in a regulatory filling in which Oracle also announced that Ampere founder and chief executive officer Renee James won’t run for reelection as a director at the software company’s annual meeting Nov. 14. Vishal Sikka, founder and CEO of Vianai Systems Inc., also is leaving the board, reducing its ranks to 13 members from 15.
Oracle Corp. said it owns 29% of start-up Ampere Computing LLC and can exercise future investment options that would give it control of the chipmaker.
Oracle said in addition to equity in the start-up, it invested US$600 million in the fiscal year ended May 31 in convertible debt issued by Ampere after US$400 million in such debt in fiscal 2023. The debt matures in June 2026 and if exercised with options through January 2027 to acquire additional equity, Oracle would “obtain control of Ampere and consolidate its results with our results of operations.”
