Business Secretary Peter Kyle said he would have blocked the sale of ARM Holdings to SoftBank if he had been in government at the time, arguing that the Cambridge chip designer could have become the biggest company on the London Stock Exchange and a major British tech champion. Speaking during London Tech Week, Kyle said the UK should learn from past losses such as ARM and DeepMind, which was acquired by Google in 2014, and focus on creating conditions that keep fast-growing companies in Britain rather than simply intervening to stop sales.
ARM, once seen as a crown jewel of UK technology, was bought by Japan’s SoftBank in 2016 for £24 billion and later listed in New York in 2023. It is now valued at about £285 billion. Kyle said the company could have been “40% of the way” toward becoming a trillion-dollar firm that the UK needs. He also said he regretted DeepMind’s sale, noting that while it still operates in the UK, the wealth it generates is flowing overseas.
Kyle’s remarks came as the government unveiled plans to support British tech firms and compete more effectively with the United States, where companies such as SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI are preparing for major share sales in New York. The Business Secretary said the government wants to back promising firms with larger public investments and a cross-government concierge service to help them access skills, funding and support.
He said he had raised the government’s “risk threshold” on artificial intelligence, arguing that the bigger danger is allowing fear and caution to slow innovation. He said he preferred a policy approach that accepts some mistakes in order to help the UK shape the future of AI and advanced technology.
The government has already announced public investment in firms including Kraken, Wayve and the UK tech investment fund Playground Global. Kyle said the aim is to build an environment where successful companies do not feel compelled to leave Britain in the first place.
At the same time, he acknowledged pressure on other parts of the economy, particularly hospitality, which has been hit by higher national living wage costs and increased employers’ national insurance contributions. He said he understood the strain and pointed to the government’s decision to phase in business rate rises for pubs more gradually than originally planned.
Kyle also addressed concerns about young people not in employment, education or training, after former Health Secretary Alan Milburn warned of a “lost generation” as the number of NEETs passed one million. Kyle said he accepted that there are structural problems in how young people enter work and said the government is working with Milburn on possible solutions.
