British chip designer Imagination Technologies is adding the former chief executive of BT and ICL plc to its board in an effort to allay fears over growing Chinese influence over the company.

Sir Peter Bonfield, a technology veteran who is currently chairman of Netherlands-based semiconductor firm NXP and a director of Taiwan’s TSMC in Taiwan, will be joining Imagination as a non-executive director, in news to be announced on Monday.

Sir Peter is expected to be the first of a number of non-executive hires Imagination is planning to announce in the coming weeks. The company is also still hunting for a new chief executive, after Ron Black left in April.

His departure came amid growing fears that China Reform, the largest investor in Imagination’s owner Canyon Bridge, was plotting a boardroom coup. 

Earlier this year, China Reform had attempted to add four people to Imagination’s board, although, following a backlash from MPs, later backed down.

Imagination develops around a third of the graphics processing chips used in mobile phones, and its customers include Apple. It has also developed a verification technology to test those chips, which MPs have warned could be used to find vulnerabilities in networks.

To quell concerns over Beijing’s influence, Canyon Bridge pledged to keep Imagination headquarters in the UK and hire new independent directors.

Sky News reported last month that Imagination had approached Ed Vaizey, the former government minister, over a role.