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Chip firm Imagination to float in US in latest London tech snub

Imagination
Image credit: Zora Avagyan / Shutterstock

British semiconductor firm Imagination Technologies has registered to go public in New York in what could be the latest blow to the London Stock Exchange.

Just days after Cambridge-based Arm completed the biggest IPO of the year on the Nasdaq – snubbing London – fellow chip designer Imagination has announced its intention to go public in the US.

Based in Hertfordshire, Imagination Technologies designs graphics processing units (GPUs), neural network accelerators for AI processing, and networking routers. Customers include Apple, which uses the firm’s GPUs for its smartphones.

Like Arm, Imagination was once listed in London. However, it was delisted six years ago following its acquisition by the Chinese-backed private equity fund Canyon Bridge Capital Partners.

After years of operating as a private firm, the Telegraph has reported that it has registered to go public a second time, with New York as the destination.

Imagination, valued at £550m at the time of its acquisition in 2017, could float this year, but 2024 is considered more likely.

UKTN has reached out to Imagination Technologies for comment.

The London Stock Exchange has struggled to attract tech companies amid a global slowdown in public markets. UK tech listings have slowed drastically since a bumper year in 2021.

For many, there is a perception that the US provides greater access to investors with deep pockets and less stringent regulatory scrutiny.

Last month, the CEO of stock trading app Plus500 called out the UK markets for a regressive attitude towards tech firms, saying that London investors won’t offer decent valuations compared with New York because of a strict perception of what is considered a tech business.

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