In summer 2016, SoftBank acquired Arm, the UK's leading semiconductor company, for $32 billion amid the Brexit referendum. The deal sparked divided reactions in the UK—some saw it as confidence in British technology, while others, including Arm founder Hermann Hauser, viewed it as a failure to retain a national champion. On the US West Coast, observers debated whether SoftBank's move reflected genuine strategic synergy or merely financial opportunism amid Japan's low interest rates.