US semiconductor manufacturer Vishay Intertechnology is investing £51m in Newport Wafer Fab, the UK’s largest semiconductor facility.

The wafer fabrication facility based in Newport, Wales, has had a turbulent past in terms of ownership. Built in 1982 by British semiconductor company Inneos, the facility has been bought and sold numerous times over the intervening years. 

Located on 28 acres, the 200mm semiconductor wafer fab has a capacity to produce more than 30,000 wafers per month.

Most controversially, in 2021 Dutch chip firm Nexperia, which is wholly owned by Shanghai-based Wingtech, confirmed plans to acquire the production facility in a deal valued at £63m. 

However, in May 2022 this acquisition was called in for a full national security assessment by the UK government. MPs had expressed concern that a security review into the purchase of the plant had still not been carried out, despite possible links between Nexperia and the Chinese state government.

In November 2022, the UK government blocked the sale on national security grounds. Nexperia was ordered to sell its majority stake in Newport Wafer Fab.

While the Conservative government at the time assumed the site would be “bought easily by somebody who would retain the activities and jobs”, this didn’t happen until a year later when in November 2023 US company Vishay Intertechnology announced its intention to buy the wafer fab.

In February 2024 Jo Stevens, the Labour shadow Welsh secretary, called on the Conservative government to take action and end the “dither and delay” over the acquisition.

In March 2024, Vishay announced it had completed the acquisition of Nexperia’s Newport Wafer Fab in a $177m deal – a transaction that saw it obtain 100% ownership of the facility.

The latest news is that Vishay is investing a further £51m to bring in new product range capabilities and skilled job opportunities.

The investment is supported by £5m of Welsh government funding. 

The Welsh government’s Economy Secretary Rebecca Evans said the investment showed that Wales was “increasingly a world-leading nation” in semiconductor production.

In a statement, the Welsh government also revealed other investments it is making in the country’s semiconductor industry. This includes investment in the grid infrastructure at the R&D and main manufacturing facility of KLA’s SPTS division.

Evans said: “Compound semiconductors are all around us – in our homes and in our phones, our trains and our turbines. They are a vital, if miniature, piece of what makes the modern world tick, with extremely strong global growth projections. And we in Wales are increasingly a world-leading nation in their production and manufacture.

“Today that is more evident than ever, with our international reputation attracting significant inward investment, the provision and occupation of state-of-the-art facilities, clear links with R&D and well paid opportunities for employment and apprenticeships.”