The sale of UK semiconductor giant Arm to Nvidia has collapsed.

Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, Arm’s current owner, said the deal had been officially ended due to "significant regulatory challenges".

Arm, based in Cambridge, has around 6,500 staff worldwide, and designs processors which are widely used in consumer electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and desktops including some Apple devices.

SoftBank first agreed to sell Arm to the US chip maker in September 2020, but the deal has been beset by regulatory scrutiny since then.

In August, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recommended an in-depth probe into Nvidia’s takeover of Arm.

The competition watchdog said that the merged business would have a “significant degree of control over key technologies for a range of sectors,” including artificial intelligence.

SoftBank said that Arm would now list publicly before the end of its financial year ending 31 March 2023.

SoftBank is set to keep the $1.25 billion deposit Nvidia initially paid it for the acquisition, which is set to "be recognised as profit" in its quarter ending March.

Arm has also separately appointed Rene Haas as its chief executive officer.

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