'Hard Brexit' could seriously damage business at Arm, the UK's biggest tech company
Segars said, "There are a finite number of [UK] engineers with the right skills we can hire...we have 300 people in Cambridge right now from mainland Europe, and more could start tomorrow. If there was some law enacted that said every employee has to be from the UK, the business would fail," he warned.
It's his first interview since Arm was acquired by Japan's Softbank in July of this year - the largest ever acquisition of a European technology business. When the acquisition was confirmed, Softbank said it intended to remain headquartered in Cambridge and expected Arm's 3,000-strong workforce to at least double in size over the next five years.
Segar's warnings come on top of concerns that Britain lost its biggest tech company to Japan at the time of the acquisition. Chancellor Phillip Hammond endorsed the sale in a statement that read: "Just three weeks after the referendum decision, it shows that Britain has lost none of its allure to international investors. Britain is open for business - and open to foreign investment." He added: "Softbank's decision confirms that Britain remains one of the most attractive destinations globally for investors to create jobs and wealth. And as ARM's founders will testify, this is the greatest place in the world to start and grow a technology business."
But the sale concerned some people, including one of the cofounders of ARM. Hermann Hauser told the BBC on the days the news of the sale broke that it was "a sad day for me and for technology in Britain".
Other UK technology companies have spoken out against the impact of a so-called "hard Brexit" and the tightening of immigration rules that could come with it. A poll of tech startups before the referendum found that 87% of respondents were opposed to Brexit. And Jason Trost, CEO of betting startup Smarkets, told Business Insider in September that his company was planning to expand in the US rather than the UK following the referendum.
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- 9 health benefits of drinking sugarcane juice in summer
- 10 benefits of incorporating almond oil into your daily diet
- From heart health to detoxification: 10 reasons to eat beetroot
- Why did a NASA spacecraft suddenly start talking gibberish after more than 45 years of operation? What fixed it?
- ICICI Bank shares climb nearly 5% after Q4 earnings; mcap soars by ₹36,555.4 crore