The chief executive of SoftBank has said his £24.3bn takeover of ARM Holdings is a “big bet” on the UK thriving outside of the EU, as he pledged to put Britain’s biggest technology company at the centre of the next computing age.

Masayoshi Son denied that the Japanese acquisition of the Cambridge based microchip designer had been an opportunistic swoop enabled by the falling pound, as he pledged to hire thousands of engineers in the UK.

ARM, which designs the microchips used in the iPhone as well as in millions of other smartphones, tablets and other computer electronics, announced on Monday morning that it had agreed to the shock £17-a-share takeover, which will be put to investors in the coming months.