Armโs China subsidiary appears in be in open conflict with headquarters, as it rejected a decision by the British chipmaker to fire China chief Allan Wu.
Details: Arm China, a joint venture set up by Arm Ltd and a Chinese investment consortium in 2018, said in a company statement (in Chinese) Wednesday that Wu remains the chairman and CEO of the company.
- The announcement came one day after Arm UK said that the board of Arm China voted to remove Wu from his position as CEO and replace him with two co-CEOs, Ken Phua and Phil Tang, according toย Bloomberg.
- โThere are no leadership changes happening at Arm China, and Chairman and CEO Allen Wu continues to lead the company,โ the statement said.
- Arm China is an independent legal entity set up in China and the decision was made โupon relevant laws and regulations,โ said the company.
- Armโs UK headquarters told Bloomberg Wednesday that the company stood by its original statement firing Wu, and added that Wu had been fired โafter an investigation uncovered undisclosed conflicts of interest and violations of employee rules.โ
- โFollowing aย whistleblowerย complaint and several other current and former employee complaints, an investigation was undertaken by Arm Limitedโฆ Evidence received from multiple sources found serious irregularities, including failing to disclose conflicts of interest and violations of the employee handbook,โ said the British firm.
- Arm China didnโt reply to an e-mail requesting comment on Arm headquartersโ latest statement.
Context:ย UK-based Arm, which is owned by Japanese telecom giant Softbank, licenses semiconductor technologies such as the Arm architecture to chip makers. Arm is a key player for Huawei and other Chinese IC companies, as its architecture are standard for mobile phone CPUs, among other applications.
- Arm China was formed in 2018, when Softbank sold 51% of Armโs Chinese subsidiary to a consortium consisting of China Investment Corp., the Silk Road Fund and Singaporean state investment firmย Temasek Holdings, according to Bloomberg.
- Arm Ltd directly owns 47.33% of Arm China, according to the Chinese joint ventureโs corporate registration information.
- Phua, one of the co-CEOs appointed by Arm Ltd, is currently vice president of the British firmโs strategic business development department, according to hisย Linkedin profile.
- A similar boardroom drama erupted at another British semiconductor IP firm in April, when leaders at UK’s Imagination technologies resigned over what they called “Chinese government” control of the company.
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