Nvidia's Huang Backed Marvell's Lumentum Deal Before It Was Announced, Bloomberg Reports

Marvell chief executive Matt Murphy and Lumentum chief executive Michael Hurlston asked for Huang's views on a phone call ahead of Monday's announcement, according to the report. Hurlston later told Fox Business that Nvidia's response was "super positive" and said the merger could help the companies get products to Nvidia faster, TipRanks reported. The reports describe Huang's role as informal support. Nvidia has no formal approval right over the deal.

Nvidia has a direct financial interest. It invested $2 billion in each company earlier this year, according to the reports. Bloomberg linked Huang's support to Nvidia encouraging consolidation among its key suppliers, because demand for faster optical connections has become a bottleneck in large data centres.

Under the terms announced on Monday, Lumentum shareholders will receive 4.5 Marvell shares for each share they own. That values Lumentum's equity at about $103 billion, or about $115 billion including debt, a 23.9% premium to its share price before merger speculation began. Marvell expects more than $1 billion in annual savings. Marvell shareholders would own 67% of the combined company and Lumentum shareholders 33%. The companies expect to close in the first half of 2028, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.

Investors reacted badly at first. Marvell shares fell more than 10% and Lumentum more than 15% on Monday, amid concerns about the price and the financial risks, TipRanks reported.

The report shows how much influence Nvidia has over the AI hardware supply chain. Its biggest suppliers now appear to check major strategic moves with it before going public. Regulators reviewing the deal may ask about that relationship, and so may customers that buy Marvell's custom chips and compete with Nvidia.