A London-based semiconductor designer, often compared to Arm, has recently issued a warning regarding the impact of global tariff uncertainties, refraining from providing trading guidance for the current year.

Alphawave stated that the “ongoing global economic instability and the rapidly evolving nature of recently established tariff regulations” has placed them in a situation where they are “not able to offer guidance for this year or the following one.”

On Sunday, former President Trump announced that he would disclose the tariff rates on imported semiconductors in the upcoming week.

The Canadian chipmaker withheld comments on a proposal from Qualcomm, a larger competitor based in San Diego, which had pushed Alphawave’s market capitalization to over £1 billion earlier this month.

Qualcomm has until April 29 to either present a formal offer or withdraw from discussions.

This potential bid surfaced shortly after news broke that Arm Holdings, the Cambridge-based chip manufacturer, was considering an offer for Alphawave, sparking the possibility of a bidding war for the struggling semiconductor firm. Last month, Alphawave was London’s most shorted stock, though short sellers have since decreased their positions in light of the acquisition interest.

The unprofitable chipbuilder has previously warned about its performance, most recently in January when it indicated that 2023 revenue would fall at the lower end of its forecast range of $310 million to $330 million.

In March, Tony Pialis, Alphawave’s co-founder and CEO, mentioned in an interview that 2025 would be a pivotal year for the company as it begins shipping products in bulk to some of the largest hyperscalers, including Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta.

Alphawave was part of the “class of 2021,” which included other companies such as Deliveroo and Moonpig, which have also seen significant declines in their market valuations. The company went public at 410p a share in May 2021, reaching a valuation of £3.1 billion. As of morning trading in London, Alphawave shares had dropped by 2.6p, or 2 percent, to 118p.

The firm reported a revenue of $308 million, a decrease from $322 million in 2022, while reducing pre-tax losses to $32.9 million from $39.5 million, primarily due to lower-margin contracts ending. The company achieved record bookings of $516 million during the year, a growth rate of 34 percent year-over-year.

Similar to Arm, Alphawave specializes in designing chips that are integrated into larger processors produced by partners such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung.

Recently, they have expanded into custom chip designs and are now focusing on selling complete chip designs directly to major American tech firms, facilitating faster and more reliable data transmission while consuming less power.