UK Business Secretary would have blocked ARM sale if in power

Business Secretary Peter Kyle says he would have intervened to block the sale of UK microchip company ARM Holdings had he been in government at the time.

The firm, at one time considered the crown jewel of UK tech, was bought by Japanese company Softbank in 2016 before being listed in New York in 2023.

Kyle told the BBC ARM Holdings could have been biggest firm on the London Stock Exchange if it had stayed, and that "it would be 40% of the way there to the trillion-dollar company I think our country needs".

His comments come as the government sets out how it would back British technology companies, as US tech giants SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI prepare for blockbuster share sales in New York.

Cambridge based Arm Holdings had been listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was bought by Softbank 10 years ago for £24 billion ($32 billion). It is now listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is worth £285 billion ($380 billion).

Kyle also said he "regretted" that UK based pioneering AI company Deep Mind was acquired by Google in 2014, saying that although it continues to operate in the UK, "the wealth that it has created is going elsewhere".

Kyle was speaking during London Tech Week as the government announced a number of initiatives designed to attract and keep fast growing technology companies in the UK.

"Now, what I don't want to do is be interventionist in a way that I'm just using the powers I have to block: what I do want to do is create the circumstances where they do not want to leave in the first place," he added.

The Business Secretary said the government was prepared to make bigger investments of taxpayer money in promising companies and create a cross-government concierge service to help companies get the skills, finance and support they need.

"I've upped the risk threshold," Kyle said. "There are two risks. The first is that we get so slowed down by caution and anxiety about AI that we don't embrace and shape it. The other risk is that we embrace and shape it and get some things wrong – I choose to take the latter."

But while tech firms may be enjoying the government's help and generosity, Kyle admits that other sectors are struggling. Particularly in hospitality, which has seen sharp rises in the national living wage and employers' national insurance contributions.

"Hospitality is stressed and I understand that," he said, pointing to the government's recent announcement that business rate rises for pubs would be phased in more gradually than originally planned.

Former Health Secretary Alan Milburn recently warned of "a lost generation" of young workers as the number of people not in employment education or training (NEETs) topped a million for the first time since the aftermath of the financial crisis.

"I accept there are structural challenges to the way young people enter the workforce. I accept that. Alan Milburn has done his analysis of the problem. We are working closely with Alan to see what actions we can take to tackle this," Kyle said.