Former President of Arm Exits Communist Chinese Chipmaker Amid US-China Tensions

Tudor Brown, the former president of Arm Ltd., has resigned as a director of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. and stepped down from the U.S.-sanctioned Chinese chipmaker. Brown, a well-known engineer who was part of Arm’s founding, is leaving SMIC after nine years on the company’s board. He disclosed the move on his LinkedIn page.

“Bitter sweet day today. After 9 years I resigned from SMIC board. The international divide has further widened,” he wrote. Brown, also a director of top Chinese PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd, was a key executive at Arm from 1990 until May 2012, according to this LinkedIn profile. That was before SoftBank Group acquired the British company in 2016.

Brown and SMIC did not immediately respond to Bloomberg’s requests for comment.

SMIC is one of many Chinese semiconductor makers battling steadily tightening U.S. export restrictions as Washington tries to curb Beijing’s technological rise. That’s on top of rapidly crumbling global electronics demand as consumers leave a pandemic-era boom behind.

In response, homegrown firms have attempted to develop alternatives to American silicon. The Shanghai-based contract chipmaker has advanced its production technology from two generations this year to 7-nanometers. However, industry experts caution that may not be based on the same standards employed by far larger rivals like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.