Arm Retakes Control of Chinese Branch Office, New CEOs Appointed

[AleksandarK]

According to the report from Reuters, SoftBank has managed to regain control of the Arm China branch office that went rogue under the chairman and CEO Allen Wu's leadership. Arm China is SoftBank's venture to operate Arm Ltd. business in the Chinese region. That means that Arm can use all the licensing and development done on the mainland with SoftBank's supervision and conduct business. However, that idea was tough to pull off when now ex-chairman/CEO Allen Wu decided not to give up his leadership role for almost two years, despite being fired in 2020.

Not everything is terrible, as the SoftBank operation managed to make some progress in getting back the control of the Arm China venture. The company reports that the Arm China board has voted to replace Allen Wu unanimously and appoint Dr. Renchen Liu alongside Eric Chen as two co-CEOs. Dr. Liu is a vice dean at the Research Institute of Tsinghua University in Shenzhen, and the agency in Shenzhen has registered him as the company leader and general manager. Eric Chen is a managing partner at the SoftBank Vision Fund, helping Dr. Liu with business operations. Later after this decision, Allen Wu posted a letter signed by 430 employees that stated that there were law enforcement errors in his replacement process and that he would continue to lead the company. It is a matter of time before Chinese authorities take this action a step further and see more details.


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[DeathtoGnomes]

Interesting News. I've heard of hostile takeovers before, but not against your own company.

The fight for Arm China intensified in recent weeks after Softbank decided to proceed with an initial public offering of Arm following the collapse of Nvidia Corp’s US$40 billion offer to buy the British tech firm. Arm China, in which Arm Ltd owns 47.33 per cent, has become a potential stumbling block for the IPO, as Arm China’s auditors could not sign off on the books for the joint venture, according to the 2021 annual report of Arm Ltd.

Link

 

[Verpal]

Hmm...can't find the actual source on reuter, perhaps they are referring to this?

到底谁在控制安谋科技？新营业执照与公章亮相

今日晚间，在Arm旗下公关公司向媒体发送的邮件中，以安谋科技（中国）有限公司的身份表示，已合法取得新的营业执照与公章。

www.ijiwei.com

BTW it seems like ARM China is going to contest the decision, since in most scenario you cannot change/apply for a new stamp without the old stamp, at least that's what I heard from friend doing business in China.

Edit: so I asked someone in the industry quickly and they say, and I quote:

From the day it is founded ARM China considered itself as an independent company, protected by permanent cross licensing agreement and sole right to sell ARM product in China. Even if ARM UK stop licensing ARM China, ARM China can continue developing its own ARM base processor and sell it outside China with ARM branding. Considering recent changes in ARM UK board members many people in Chinese Chip industry also consider it to be functionally controlled by United State, therefore view any attempts in changing ARM China leadership to be hostile.

I don't translate very well, and takes this comment with huge load of salts.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Edit: so I asked someone in the industry quickly and they say, and I quote:

From the day it is founded ARM China considered itself as an independent company, protected by permanent cross licensing agreement and sole right to sell ARM product in China. Even if ARM UK stop licensing ARM China, ARM China can continue developing its own ARM base processor and sell it outside China with ARM branding. Considering recent changes in ARM UK board members many people in Chinese Chip industry also consider it to be functionally controlled by United State, therefore view any attempts in changing ARM China leadership to be hostile.

I don't translate very well, and takes this comment with huge load of salts.

AFAIK, a lot of it may have to do with how the China Government handles intellectual properties as well as licensing & trademarks. If you want to manufacturer & sell stuff in China, a lot of information like blueprints/trademarks/licenses regarding the product has to be submitted to the Government.

There is a story how the US company behind the Segway Scooter did the same thing, but the Government passed all the data on to a Chinese company (ninebot) who started mass producing the scooters and selling them globally... They sold so many that they made enough money to buy out the US company Segway.

So China might be able to keep working with the name/brand but only in China and they sure wont have access to any updated ARM technologies if ARM(UK) do decide to completely sever ties with China based ARM.

Since the US Government stopped US companies (and attempted to stop some foreign companies) from trading with China, China has had to develop its own technologies to cover for the short fall, but they are still many years behind from having a product that competes with ARM, Mediatek, Qualcomm or Intel/AMD etc etc etc. AFAIK

This is another reason why Taiwan is so important to China. A lot of chip manufacturers are based in TW. Hence why companies like Intel are trying to move some production AWAY from TW. If China wants to brawl - Production and distribution will be interrupted.



--- This is my rough understanding of how it works over there. Other members might be able to go more into detail.

 

[big_glasses]

Wonder if this will have any global repercussion against having departments in China.
It has certainly shown the issues of having a chinese branch.

 

[scorpion_amd13]

Looks like China is doing its utmost to convince the West that the time for business is over. If there's something that western businessmen can't do without, that's predictability. Robbing companies like this, in plain sight, is a very strong message that "China wants, China gets", but it's also a message that the Chinese can't be trusted. After all, what's to stop them from just robbing you blind right now? Considering this is state sponsored, the only thing keeping any companies and/or investors in China right now is the money they've already invested in this particular sinking ship. Some will be able to recoup their investments partially, some will lose it all. Either way, most companies will look to other countries for the future. And without all the investment from the West, it's pretty much buh-bye China...

 

[InVasMani]

Rebuilding trust is a very long process.

 

[Zareek]

Looks like China is doing its utmost to convince the West that the time for business is over. If there's something that western businessmen can't do without, that's predictability. Robbing companies like this, in plain sight, is a very strong message that "China wants, China gets", but it's also a message that the Chinese can't be trusted. After all, what's to stop them from just robbing you blind right now? Considering this is state sponsored, the only thing keeping any companies and/or investors in China right now is the money they've already invested in this particular sinking ship. Some will be able to recoup their investments partially, some will lose it all. Either way, most companies will look to other countries for the future. And without all the investment from the West, it's pretty much buh-bye China...

Don't worry, there are plenty of other countries with cheap labor and loose environmental laws that businesses can abuse. Hell, even the Chinese have started to invest in Africa. There is a whole continent ripe for exploitation.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

I can't knock less believe this guy's work ethic, he loves his job eh , been told to sod off many times and still won't go.

 

[thewan]

Hmm...can't find the actual source on reuter, perhaps they are referring to this?

到底谁在控制安谋科技？新营业执照与公章亮相

今日晚间，在Arm旗下公关公司向媒体发送的邮件中，以安谋科技（中国）有限公司的身份表示，已合法取得新的营业执照与公章。

www.ijiwei.com

BTW it seems like ARM China is going to contest the decision, since in most scenario you cannot change/apply for a new stamp without the old stamp, at least that's what I heard from friend doing business in China.

Edit: so I asked someone in the industry quickly and they say, and I quote:

From the day it is founded ARM China considered itself as an independent company, protected by permanent cross licensing agreement and sole right to sell ARM product in China. Even if ARM UK stop licensing ARM China, ARM China can continue developing its own ARM base processor and sell it outside China with ARM branding. Considering recent changes in ARM UK board members many people in Chinese Chip industry also consider it to be functionally controlled by United State, therefore view any attempts in changing ARM China leadership to be hostile.

I don't translate very well, and takes this comment with huge load of salts.

Hi. Welcome to TPU. It looks like you are new here, so let me explain. This article, like every article on TPU, cites the source at the bottom of the article. Most of of those are clickable links. Just click the word "Reuters" next to the word "Source:". You do not need to manually search for a source if a reputable website, such as TPU here cites the source properly with a link. You just need to read the whole article from Top to Bottom.

 

[lexluthermiester]

According to the report from Reuters, SoftBank has managed to regain control of the Arm China branch office that went rogue under the chairman and CEO Allen Wu's leadership.

This can only be a good thing!!

 

[Verpal]

Hi. Welcome to TPU. It looks like you are new here, so let me explain. This article, like every article on TPU, cites the source at the bottom of the article. Most of of those are clickable links. Just click the word "Reuters" next to the word "Source:". You do not need to manually search for a source if a reputable website, such as TPU here cites the source properly with a link. You just need to read the whole article from Top to Bottom.

Emm.... what? I can't find the actual source on Reuter, never did I said TPU failed to quote Reuter, you really confused me here.

Just in case it is still not clear, the link on TPU, which is linked to Reuter, upon clicking said link, you go to Reuter, but on Reuter website, they(Reuter) didn't quote a direct link to source material, only a reference.

 

[mechtech]

I can't knock less believe this guy's work ethic, he loves his job eh , been told to sod off many times and still won't go.

lol probably still getting paid somewhere somehow though...............

I don't think anyone would stick around without a paycheck.

still crazy stuff

 

[lexluthermiester]

Emm.... what? I can't find the actual source on Reuter, never did I said TPU failed to quote Reuter, you really confused me here.

Just in case it is still not clear, the link on TPU, which is linked to Reuter, upon clicking said link, you go to Reuter, but on Reuter website, they(Reuter) didn't quote a direct link to source material, only a reference.

Don't feed the trolls..

 

[Tarkhein]

Hmm...can't find the actual source on reuter, perhaps they are referring to this?

到底谁在控制安谋科技？新营业执照与公章亮相

今日晚间，在Arm旗下公关公司向媒体发送的邮件中，以安谋科技（中国）有限公司的身份表示，已合法取得新的营业执照与公章。

www.ijiwei.com

Reading the Reuters article, the most important part that identifies the source is the first few words:

Arm Ltd said on Friday a change in leadership at its Chinese joint venture fully complied with local laws, after concerns were raised about the move at the Chinese unit.

"Arm Ltd said" - that means Arm themselves have put out a press release or news article. So I went to the Arm website itself and looked for their news page and voila:

Arm China Majority Shareholders Announce the Company’s Corporate Governance Issue has been Resolved

Arm Ltd, HOPU Investment, and SoftBank Group, acting in their capacity as direct and indirect shareholders holding majority equity interest in Arm China, are announcing the company’s longstanding corporate governance issue has been resolved following a unanimous vote by the Arm China Board of...

www.arm.com

Sure it's not directly linked, but not impossible to locate an official source.

 

[Verpal]

Reading the Reuters article, the most important part that identifies the source is the first few words:

"Arm Ltd said" - that means Arm themselves have put out a press release or news article. So I went to the Arm website itself and looked for their news page and voila:

Arm China Majority Shareholders Announce the Company’s Corporate Governance Issue has been Resolved

Arm Ltd, HOPU Investment, and SoftBank Group, acting in their capacity as direct and indirect shareholders holding majority equity interest in Arm China, are announcing the company’s longstanding corporate governance issue has been resolved following a unanimous vote by the Arm China Board of...

www.arm.com

Sure it's not directly linked, but not impossible to locate an official source.

I wasn't referring to the part whereas Arm Ltd said something, that won't require direct link since ARM would likely have it on their website in super accessible place.
I was referring to this:

As recently as Thursday, Wu told Chinese media outlet ijiwei.com that Arm and SoftBank's efforts to remove him were illegal.

It is in later part of Reuters article, the news from ijiwei.com also included the detail of Reuters claim that:

However, later in the day Arm China said it opposed the move and that there were flaws in how its business registration documents were changed to remove Wu.

Both are not part of ARM Ltd statements.

 

[Icon Charlie]

Rebuilding trust is a very long process.

As a person who still have content providers globally I will say the following. IMHO there are so many problems when dealing with them. Go to Vietnam or other Asian Countries than doing business over there.

As far as China being cheap labor??? Not anymore. Again, IMHO go to Vietnam, India, or other Asian Countries than doing business over there. Corporations of today are just too greedy and too lazy to move their resources from China to another country. That is why we are having the current issues we are having right now. It's always the peanut counters that messes things up.

I have and will spend the small increase in price knowing that I won't get ripped off on not only by the quality of work, but the less of a chance that my IP's will be stolen.