Nexperia has officially taken ownership of Wales-based Newport Wafer Fab, the largest chip producer in the U.K.
After the U.K. government reviewed the deal on national security grounds, Chinese-based Wingtech Technology, the company that owns Nexperia, said it had completed its acquisition of the fab, according to a report from Nikkei Asia.
Earlier this month, a consortium of semiconductor businesses said that it would buy the fab if the deal with Nexperia did not go through after the U.K.’s security investigation, heating up the possibility of a potential bidding war or new buyer.
"The transfer of the ownership has been completed, and Wintech now indirectly owns the target company [Newport Wafer Fab] 100%," Wingtech said in a filing with the Shanghai stock exchange.
The U.K. government placed the deal on hold initially because of national security concerns regarding the deal, specifically that Nexperia is owned by a Chinese company.
The acquisition of the fab comes as electronics companies worldwide race to find capacity for semiconductors in the wake of a crippling chip shortage.
The race to secure capacity is causing vendors globally to invest and develop semiconductor manufacturing on their own to avoid these future issues. Fabs are being bought and built, and factories are being expanded not just to meet demand today but also to meet future semiconductor demand that is forecast to grow 5% over the next decade. This also has companies turning to new sources to find chips such as electronic distributors and e-commerce chip distributors.
Countries that currently hold the majority of semiconductor manufacturing today — specifically Taiwan, Korea and China — are seeking to remain in a leadership position by buying existing fabs, expanding their own facilities and building new ones.
Newport Wafer Fab will help to supply Wingtech and other companies with automotive chips and current companies that use the fab include Nexperia, Samsung, Motorola and other chip developer clients.
