By @BBCNews
Publication Date: 2025-11-17 05:49:00
However, in 2019, Black says he was summoned to a meeting in Beijing, where he was asked to work directly for China Reform and oversee the full transfer of Imagination’s technology and expertise to China.
“I think (the China Reform representative) specifically said ‘from the heads of the British engineers to the Chinese engineers, then fire the British engineers and you’ll make a lot of money,'” Black says.
He refused, but says that several months later, China Reform attempted to install four new directors “with no semiconductor knowledge” directly on Imagination Technologies’ board of directors.
“The only attribute they seemed to have was a relationship with China Reform,” he adds.
Convinced that Imagination’s technology had the capacity to be used for military purposes, Black began reaching out to contacts in the UK government.
He says they listened to him sympathetically, but told him this was a private industry issue and there wasn’t much anyone could do.
Fearful of the possible transfer of military-grade technology, Black resigned. At that point, he says, the UK government became interested and China Reform stopped its attempt to appoint new directors.
Black withdrew his resignation but was fired three days later. An employment tribunal later found that he had been unfairly dismissed.
After leaving the company, Imagination’s own technology was transferred to China.