Cambridge's Tech Hub Generates Successes and Growing Pains

CAMBRIDGE, England--After a long push inspired by Silicon Valley, this centuries-old college town has taken on a new role as a modern, tech-industry hub. The reward has been a flood of jobs and money. The downsides have been the same sort of housing and traffic strains beleaguering the San Francisco Bay Area. Another, more recent complaint by some locals: Foreigners keep snapping up the best companies that have sprouted here. Cambridge's tech bona fides were validated afresh last month when Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank Group Corp. 9984 -0.17 % agreed to pay 32 billion for ARM Holdings ARMH -0.52 % PLC.