When Nvidia announced its $40bn proposal to acquire ARM, the powerhouse of processor IP, from Japan’s Softbank, it appeared confident that, despite the glaring conflicts of interest on view to some of ARM’s licensees (and Nvidia’s rivals), the deal would pass regulatory muster. That is less clear now, and certainly the deal will take a lot longer to finalize than Nvidia had anticipated – so long, perhaps, that cash-strapped Softbank might start to look at alternative ways, such as an IPO or less troublesome buyer, to cash in on its golden goose (the deadline to complete is the end of 2022 though Nvidia has consistently predicted closure around March 2022). The prospects got tougher for Nvidia earlier this month when…