Newport Wafer Fab

Newport Wafer Fab is the largest (by August 2021) chip factory in Britain, specializing in the production of 200 mm semiconductor plates. The company was founded in 2017.

History

2021: Wingtech Technologies купила Newport Wafer Fab

In August 2021, it became known about the closure of a deal to sell the Newport Wafer Fab plant to the Chinese smartphone assembly concern Wingtech Technologies.

The deal is controversial due to the fact that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to conduct an investigation into national security issues, and the British Minister of State promised to revise the deal. Nexperia is based in the Netherlands, but is owned by the Chinese company Wingtech. This has raised concerns among British politicians who fear that Britain could lose its largest computer chip maker just as the industry becomes increasingly important and geopolitically sensitive.

Wingtech Technologies acquires Newport Wafer Fab plant

Once the transaction is completed, the status of this review and investigation is unclear. It is only known that the Newport Wafer Fab plant can produce 32 thousand plates per month, working according to the 200 nm process. This can hardly be called advanced, given that the Taiwanese company TSMC operates in a 3-nm process.

Of course, not every unit of electronics needs the latest technologies and the Newport enterprise specializes in the production of unglamorous, but important medical, industrial, telecommunications and high-power equipment. Some of the electronics manufacturers are part of the supply chain for the automotive industry, including power electronics for automotive batteries.

Wingtech's acquisition announcement paints a rosy picture of the plant's future, assuring workers and suppliers that jobs will be saved and assuming that further investments will come in an increased format.

Perhaps the promised renegotiation of the deal will consider this approval. But after the deal is completed, the UK government will have to take radical measures to cancel the deal or find ways to mitigate its effects.^[1]

Notes