Semiconductor firm Arm faces an uphill battle to fulfill a legally-binding pledge to double the size of its UK workforce by September 2021.
As a condition of its purchase of Arm in 2016, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank promised to increase the company’s UK headcount to a total of 3,494 within five years.
The move was designed to allay concerns that the UK was selling off one of its most valuable assets and guarantee an enduring commitment to Arm’s place of origin.
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However, Arm has so far only managed to carve out roles for 3,004 employees in the UK - 490 shy of the target.
In the last twelve months, the number of Arm employees in the UK rose by 262, up from an increase of 208 the previous year. But the company will need to almost double this year’s rate of hiring to meet the requisite figure.
Arm hiring commitment
Although SoftBank recently agreed to sell the UK chipmaker to Nvidia for $40 billion (pending regulatory approval), Arm CEO Simon Segars has confirmed the hiring pledge is unaffected.
The firm’s recruitment drive has been hamstrung somewhat by the pandemic, but its ambitions remain consistent in that department.
“We’ve still been hiring throughout [the pandemic]. There will be quite a significant graduate intake,” explained Segars.
When news of the Nvidia purchase first surfaced, there was concern from some quarters that circa 300 jobs might be under threat as a result of the company’s ambition to integrate its own technology into Arm products.
However, Segars has dismissed the rumors as baseless and claims Arm has no intention of selling off its graphics-focused business, Mali.
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Via The Telegraph
