Nexperia has to give up its chip factory Newport Wafer Fab in Wales last year due to a “national security risk”. Nexperia company has a Chinese owner.
Economic Affairs Minister Grant Shapps has ordered Nexperia to sell at least 86 percent of its stake in the factory.
According to the ministry, the acquisition has created the risk that technology and knowledge will leak to China. The plant is also part of a’ tech cluster ‘ in South Wales that could potentially no longer be used for future home security projects.
Nexperia is a spin-off of the Eindhoven chipmaker NXP. The head office is located in Nijmegen. Since March 2020, the Chinese Xuezheng Zhang has been the CEO of Nexperia, which has been owned by Wingtech Technology since 2018. This Chinese company is supported by the Chinese Communist Party, according to research firm Datenna.
For a long time, Nexperia had a 14 percent stake in the British chip manufacturer Newport Wafer Fab. In July last year, Nexperia bought the rest of the factory. Immediately afterwards, politicians expressed their concerns about potential security risks and had then-prime minister Boris Johnson launch an investigation into the takeover.
Minister Shapps has definitively concluded that the national security risks are too great. “We welcome foreign trade and investment that drives jobs and growth, but if we see a risk to national security, we intervene,” he tweeted.
