Jan 8 (Reuters) - Japanese technology investor SoftBank

Group and its majority-owned Arm Holdings are

exploring a deal for Oracle-backed semiconductor firm

Ampere Computing, a person familiar with the matter said on

Wednesday.

Ampere has drawn interest from Arm while exploring its

strategic options, the person said, adding that the talks could

still not eventually materialise.

The news was first reported by Bloomberg News.

Arm declined to comment when contacted by Reuters, while

Ampere and SoftBank did not immediately respond to requests.

Ampere, headed by ex-Intel ( INTC ) executives, has been working with

a financial adviser to help field takeover interest, Bloomberg

News had reported in September.

Founded by Renee James, a former president of Intel ( INTC )

, Ampere uses technology from Arm to make central

processing chips that are used by Oracle, Alphabet's

Google and others.

The startup has focused on making chips that are more

energy-efficient than those from industry leaders Intel ( INTC ) and

Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ).

Oracle has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in

Ampere since it was founded, according to filings.

(Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh and Anirban Sen; Editing by

Subhranshu Sahu)