An attempt to seize control of the board of British graphics chipmaker Imagination Technologies by an investor linked to the Chinese state has failed after intervention by the UK government.

An emergency board meeting was due to be held on Tuesday to push through the appointment of four board members with links to China Reform Holdings, a $30bn Chinese government-controlled venture fund. However the meeting was cancelled after Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, wrote to Imagination Technologies this week demanding a meeting with its chairman Ray Bingham to gather more information on the developments. 

The minister’s intervention followed a campaign, led by Conservative politician David Davis, warning that Imagination Technologies, which employs 600 people in the UK, could be moved to China if the boardroom coup succeeded.