More often than not, British politicians and public figures say that NVIDIA’s commitment to preserving Arm jobs in Cambridge should be clearly spelled out in the contract. Of the 6,000 Arm employees, about half live and work in the UK, amid growing unemployment due to the pandemic, the problem of retaining jobs is becoming increasingly urgent.

According to investment experts interviewed by CNBC, the reason for blocking the deal with NVIDIA may be the orientation of many countries to “technological sovereignty.” Taking Arm under the control of an American company is not very helpful in achieving this goal, so the UK government may decide that it would be reckless to give up such an asset at this difficult time.

The British authorities can block the deal both at the level of the country’s government and through the powers of the Competition and Markets Authority. The deal must also be approved by the Chinese antimonopoly authorities, and the Chinese authorities have recently accumulated a lot of complaints about the behavior of American partners in the foreign policy arena, which also reduces the chances of agreeing on NVIDIA’s deal to buy Arm assets. US law forces local companies to negotiate mergers and acquisitions with the antitrust authorities of those countries where the merged companies have a sufficient market share. China has formed up to 20% of Arm’s revenue in recent years, and no one can ignore its interests in this deal.