Brexit took close to 5 years from vote to implementation, during which there was lots of noise from all sides. The Softbank deal came after the Brexit vote, on

Brexit took close to 5 years from vote to implementation, during which there was lots of noise from all sides. The Softbank deal came after the Brexit vote, once the Sterling had dropped sufficiently (~30%) to make it additionally enticing. Among articles from the time, https://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2016/07/18/arm-softbank-bargain-britain/?sh=140961ef3bc1 https://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2016/07/18/arm-softb..., complete with government spin. It's hard not to make something about Brexit, when the government explicitly chose to make the thing about Brexit. The Softbank deal was disastrous for UK tech, and if the government really was interested in national security grounds (which is what they're claiming this time around), it would have intervened in that deal. NVIDIA isn't likely much more of a risk from a national security perspective than SoftBank. But it had to sell Brexit, and a massive foreign investment in a UK company was an opportunity for spin too enticing to give up.