China has invested tens of billions of pounds in UK companies and projects this century, including firms with access to advanced technology, BBC Panorama has revealed. Some of these investments provided China with technology that could have military applications, according to interviews and research data.
AidData, a US-based research group, estimated that Chinese investment in the UK reached £45 billion ($59 billion) at 2023 prices. The peak followed a 2015 directive from Beijing aimed at establishing China as a global leader in high-tech industries. Compared with other G7 nations, the UK attracted the largest share of these investments relative to its economy and population.
Some of the funding was purely commercial, but other deals aligned with China’s strategic plan, “Made in China 2025,” which targets leadership in sectors such as aerospace, electric vehicles, robotics, and semiconductors. Dr. Brad Parks, executive director of AidData, noted that several investments advanced these strategic goals.
Panorama examined the case of Imagination Technologies, a Hertfordshire-based semiconductor design firm. In 2017, the company was bought for £550 million by Canyon Bridge, a US-based private equity fund backed by China Reform, a state-linked entity. Imagination’s technology, which designs the electronic circuits inside computer chips, could potentially be applied to military systems like missiles and drones, according to the firm’s former CEO, Ron Black.
Black told Panorama that despite assurances from Canyon Bridge that China Reform would be a passive investor, he was later summoned to Beijing and pressured to transfer the company’s technology to China. He refused and raised concerns with UK officials. While initially treated as a private matter, government scrutiny increased, and China Reform halted attempts to install new directors at Imagination. Black eventually resigned but was later reinstated after an employment tribunal found he had been unfairly dismissed.
After his departure, Black says Imagination’s technology was transferred to China. The company has denied that its products are used for military purposes, and Canyon Bridge stated that the deal was “sourced and led exclusively” by the firm and its advisers. China Reform and the Chinese government did not respond to allegations, with the embassy emphasizing that Chinese enterprises are expected to comply with local laws and contribute to host economies.
Former UK ministers have reflected on the lack of safeguards in earlier years. Sir Jeremy Hunt, who held multiple cabinet positions in 2015, said the government underestimated China’s strategic ambitions at the time, describing the country then as “basically a very friendly power.”
The Imagination case highlights broader concerns over the transfer of sensitive technology through foreign investment and raises questions about the UK’s ability to regulate sales of strategically important firms, particularly during periods when government oversight was limited.
