It was over the weekend that ARM announced that it had succeeded in regaining control of its ARM China division. We mentioned the “drift” of the Chinese entity that had become a real handicap for the parent company, until it became a “state within a state” under the leadership of the controversial CEO Allen Wu.
This power move, actually led by SoftBank, if it succeeds, is seen as an important step in the resolution of a conflict that has been escalating for two years. It is also a fundamental step in Softbank’s plans to take ARM public after the failed attempt to buy Nvidia. SoftBank was able to mobilize ARM China’s board of directors to replace Allen Wu. The board voted unanimously to appoint Dr. Renchen Liu and Eric Chen as co-CEOs. Dr. Liu is vice dean of Tsinghua University Research Institute in Shenzhen and has been registered as an entrepreneur and general manager by the Shenzhen Agency. Eric Chen is managing partner of SoftBank Vision Fund and assists Dr. Liu in business operations.
However, the game doesn’t seem to end there. Indeed, according to Reuters, Arm China said it objected to the decision and that there were flaws in the way its corporate registration documents were altered to remove Wu. This is not the first time Wu has remained at the helm of the company despite unfavorable decisions by its board of directors. A highly unstable situation caused, however, by Softbank’s own erring ways. Indeed, Arm China, which generates revenue by licensing chip architecture to Chinese companies, was created in 2018 when SoftBank sold a 51% stake in Arm Ltd’s Chinese subsidiary, Arm Technology (China) Co Ltd, to a group of Chinese investors. SoftBank had acquired Arm in 2016 for $32 billion. A decision considered suicidal by some…
