Boris Johnson joins last-ditch push for chip designer Arm to list in London - report

Boris Johnson is reported to have written to its owners Softbank

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has joined the push to convince the owners of UK chip maker Arm to list in London, according to a report.

Johnson has written to SoftBank, Arm's owners, while ministers and executives from the London Stock Exchange are trying to persuade them to rethink its preference for listing in New York, the Financial Times said.

SoftBank is preparing to take British chip designer Arm public after plans to sell the company to Nvidia fell through due to "significant regulatory challenges".

But it said it is planning on taking the company public on the NASDAQ exchange in New York instead of London.

According to the FT, digital minister Chris Philp and Gerry Grimstone, the former Barclays chair, will meet SoftBank executives in the coming weeks.

But two people familiar with SoftBank's thinking said there was "little possibility" of changing plans and listing in London, the report said.

However, it quoted one person as saying that an "enormous amount of effort" is being made.

A government spokesperson also told the paper: "We want to make the UK the most attractive place for innovative businesses to grow and raise capital."

Arm's chip designs are licensed to companies including Apple, Samsung and Amazon, and are used in the majority of smartphones worldwide.

SoftBank's decision to pursue an IPO for Arm within the fiscal year ending March 31 2023 comes just a month after it said it had previously opted not to take the company public because capital markets "would expect Arm to make significant strategic changes, including cutting costs to maximise Arm's value".

Arm said in March that it could cut up to 15 per cent of its workforce as it prepares to go public.

"Like any business, Arm is continually reviewing its business plan to ensure the company has the right balance between opportunities and cost discipline," the company said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, this process includes proposed redundancies across Arm's global workforce.

"If the proposals go ahead, we anticipate that around 12-15 per cent of people in Arm would be affected globally."

Most of the proposed job cuts would be in the US and the UK, Arm added.