Eyeing IPO, Chip Design Giant Arm Moves to Distance Itself From Chinese Unit

British chip design giant Arm Ltd. has transferred its shares in its wayward China joint venture to a special purpose vehicle that it jointly owns with its parent SoftBank Group Corp., in a move that could speed up its plans to go public if it decides to list in the U.S.

Over the past two years, Arm has struggled to regain control of Arm China as the subsidiary’s head, Allen Wu, has refused to relinquish power despite a 7-1 board vote to kick him out in June 2020. That spat has made it difficult for Arm to audit the financials of the company, creating a major stumbling block to doing an IPO in the U.S.