China is holding up Arm’s plan to offload its troubled joint venture in the country, months after the UK chip designer agreed to transfer the unit to its owner SoftBank as a prelude to a blockbuster stock market listing.
Three people close to the matter say Chinese officials have declined to process the paperwork confirming Arm China’s transfer to a new Vision Fund entity since the documents were submitted to business regulators around May last year.
They added that Beijing was determined to keep the UK chip designer as the unit’s largest shareholder, at a time when the US is trying to cut off China’s access to cutting-edge semiconductor technology.