NWF has a total outstanding debt of £20 million with HSBC and £18 million with the Welsh government.
Majority shareholder Drew Nelson, the CEO who acquired the business from Infineon four years back will now receive £15 million.
China’s Wingtech that owns the Dutch semiconductor firm Nexperia has now announced that it intends to purchase the shares of Newport Wafer Fab, the largest semiconductor plant in the UK. Earlier this week, the acquisition will be announced publicly, people familiar with the matter told exclusively to CNBC.
Back in 2019, Nexperia turned to be the second largest shareholder of NWF and hence, the acquisition would assist to meet the colossal demand of manufacturing more chips, which is already in a state of turmoil. As of now, the fisal details of the alliance is yet to be revealed publicly, but according to unnamed sources said that the investment is worth around £63 million ($87 million).
Achim Kempe, Nexperia’s chief operations officer, said in a press conference: “The Newport facility has a very skilled operational team and has a crucial role to play to ensure continuity of operations. We look forward to building a future together.”
Several experts in the UK have raised concerns at this crucial situation where the semiconductor sector is in a state of crisis, it is not a golden move to sell its most valuable asset to a company, backed by China. Back in April, the National Security and Investment Act was unleashed under which the acquisition needs to be reviewed, remarks Tom Tugendhat, leader of the U.K. government’s China Research Group and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.
Tugendhat further said, "The semiconductor industry sector falls under the scope of the legislation, the very purpose of which is to protect the nation’s technology companies from foreign takeovers when there is a material risk to economic and national security. When the U.K. signed the Carbis Bay G7 communique, we pledged to take steps to build economic resilience in critical global supply chains, such as semiconductors. This appears to be an immediate and very public reversal of that commitment."
