UK.gov's decision on Newport Wafer Fab ownership delayed for third time
- Reference: 1664879233
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/10/04/newport_wafer_fab_decision_delayed_nexperia_china/
- Source link:
Newport Wafer Fab runs Britain's largest chipmaking facility, producing up to 32,000 silicon wafers a month, but it was [1]sold in 2021 in a deal worth £63 million to Dutch company Nexperia, which is now a subsidiary of Chinese outfit Wingtech Technology.
The UK’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) launched a belated national security assessmentof the sale [2]in May , using powers gained under the National Security and Investment Act 2021 to examine whether the agreement should be reversed or allowed to stand.
[3]
A decision based on the findings of the investigation was expected in July, but the BEIS instead asked for an additional 45 days to consider the implications of allowing the sale. This additional 45 days ran into September, whereupon the department [4]requested even more time to make a decision, giving itself until October 3 to come up with its absolutely final decision.
[5]
[6]
Now it seems like Newport Wafer Fab and Nexperia may have to continue to wait, as it appears BEIS may have more important things on its collective mind right now.
We asked the BEIS for an update on the security assessment, expecting to be given details on which way the government had decided to go with the decision, but instead a spokesperson for the department informed us:
[7]
“The only date formally communicated to us by the Investment Security Unit (ISU) remains October 3rd. But there are circumstances in which they can stop the clock, to look at specific issues more closely. We are not anticipating any announcement on Monday. Beyond that, we cannot comment further.”
[8]Arm founder says the UK has no chance of tech sovereignty
[9]Former Newport Wafer Fab owner linked to buyback from China's Nexperia
[10]UK government will not step in over Altice's growing stake in BT
[11]UK government publishes guidance on security rules for tech takeovers
As for BEIS, September 2022 was somewhat of an eventful month in the UK, with [12]Liz Truss being declared the leader of the Conservative Party (and therefore de facto Prime Minister), which ushered in a change of many departmental heads, including former BEIS Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng. BEIS is now run by the haunted pencil that is Jacob Rees-Mogg. The funeral of Queen Elizabeth also interrupted the flow of normal government business, and the BEIS has also had its hands full with the energy crisis that has seen the unit price of energy double for consumers and businesses alike recently.
While making decision of the future of a Brit chip company may not be a priority for BEIS at the moment, further delays may prove to be more than a minor inconvenience for Newport Wafer Fab and Nexperia, neither of which will be able to move on until the UK government rules on the matter.
Back in July, Nexperia's UK country manager Toni Versluijs expressed his frustration with the security assessment to a [13]BEIS Committee meeting , saying that his company needed certainty.
Versluijs said the "investigation needs to be done swiftly", claiming that Nexperia's customers "are becoming impatient on the clarity".
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He also claimed that Nexperia had actually saved Newport Wafer Fab from bankruptcy, and denied speculation that Nexperia planned to close the fab and move operations abroad, claiming the company was investing in its UK operations instead.
The belated assessment looking into Nexperia’s acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab has followed a renewed awareness of the importance of technology to the UK as an industrial nation, amid fears the country was allowing its most valuable technological assets to be sold into foreign ownership.
However, the BEIS can move faster when the mood takes it: in August it announced it had used its powers under the NSIA to [15]block the sale of Brit chip design software outfit Pulsic to a Chinese company on national security grounds. Pulsic is an electronic design automation (EDA) company that makes placement and routing tools that used in the design and development of the circuit layouts for chips. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/17/newport_wafer_fab_sold_to_wingtech/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/26/security_probe_nexperia_sale/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YzxYnnBhqml9A-Yx832iigAAAJA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/06/uk_government_demand_more_time/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YzxYnnBhqml9A-Yx832iigAAAJA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YzxYnnBhqml9A-Yx832iigAAAJA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YzxYnnBhqml9A-Yx832iigAAAJA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/29/arm_founder_uk_tech_sovereignty/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/15/newport_wafer_fab/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/23/uk_bt_national_security_altice/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/17/uk_government_publishes_guidance_national/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/05/truss_uk_pm/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/06/nexperia_no_plans_close/
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YzxYnnBhqml9A-Yx832iigAAAJA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/19/uk_chip_company_sale_china/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I am not all that convinced the Russians needed British technology as they were able to take it from Germany. I am sure the British at the time knew it too.
Quoting the Wikipedia:
"Following the end of the war the German jet aircraft and jet engines were extensively studied by the victorious allies and contributed to work on early Soviet and US jet fighters. The legacy of the axial-flow engine is seen in the fact that practically all jet engines on fixed-wing aircraft have had some inspiration from this design.".
The RR Nene was a complete ground up design, and the sale of which went directly into the design of the Klimov VK-1, which powered the MiG-15.
The MiG had better high altitude performance than US Sabres in the Korean war. I'm pretty sure our allies did not appreciate that. (Or, for that matter, Commonwealth forces that operated there either).
@Binraider
To understand it I suppose we have to remember it was, after all, "before" the Cold War.
"in 1946, before the Cold War had really begun, the new British Labour government under the prime minister, Clement Attlee, keen to improve diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, authorised Rolls-Royce to export 40 Rolls-Royce Nene centrifugal flow turbojet engines."
And perhaps also this:
"The RD-45 was improved to produce the VK-1, which differed from the Nene in having larger combustion chambers, a larger turbine, and revised induction giving greater airflow through the engine, raised from 41 kg/s for the Nene, to 45 kg/s.[2] The VK-1F model added the afterburner. "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klimov_VK-1
Lend Lease
-> the Brit economy also doesn't want to sell stuff to potential enemies
The USA: here is some old dinosaur warships which barely float.
The UK: here is the jet engine, the computer, the cavity magnetron which is years ahead of yours.
Re: Lend Lease
Indeed, one does not have to look far to realise that the UK was most definitely not a "winner" in WW2. Winning side, maybe, but not a winner.
Re: Lend Lease
That is probably the most diplomatic way to put it.
Judging by the mindboggling incompetence of the Government at the moment they will probably just give it away.
The arrogance and stupidity of those in power now is just beyond belief. One assumes that they are smart people, they certainly have all sorts of funky education to their names, just no concept of reality.
The Tory's have taken it to s new level but the fundamental problem is that pretty much all MPs now are in the HoC for what they can get out of the system, not actually doing any good the country or society.
The decision is obvious. Block the sale.
Even if it shuts down, we can't keep selling off critical assets. It's madness and needs to stop somewhere.
Re: The decision is obvious. Block the sale.
Yeah well, maybe vote for people who can make the obvious decision.
I'm not blaming you personally, in the last thirty years politicians have become specialized in doing whatever they fancy and voters be damned.
I'm just tired of it.
Re: The decision is obvious. Block the sale.
It's hardly a critical asset. The chips they produce are 180nm scaling, so 1999 era technology, i.e. 11 generations behind the cutting edge, like early Celerons.
Re: The decision is obvious. Block the sale.
In a way you are right and completely wrong at the same time. Commercially, 180nm is a legacy tech that is long dead, perhaps surviving in some exotic niches like MEMs, FRAM, etc.
For defense and aerospace however the 180nm production is very helpful for certain "radiation rich environments". Having a local wholly owned and operated fab is the best way to prevent certain critical designs from being shared outside of their users.
Re: The decision is obvious. Block the sale.
And if it shuts down, as you suggest, it will be a net negative lost for both the staff and the country.
Maybe find some other "suitable buyer" for them, who can offer similar terms.
More cans needed
The ones BEIS has been kicking down the road are getting very worn out.
It is because we have a trade deficit that we also have to have a fairly open economy where foreign investors can buy UK based businesses (and hopefully inject money in them to fund their growth). According to the theory, high foreign investment counteracts the negative effect of money flowing out caused by a trade deficit.
You can only really be more protectionist about ownership of companies if you also try to re-focus the economy to be export driven.
Anyway, I am just off to drink a delicious glass of tap water supplied by Thames Water, which is 8% owned by the Chinese Investment Corporation (although the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System own a lot more).
Brit economy has a long-running trade defecit, so selling off businesses is one way to address the defecit.
But, oh, wait, the Brit economy also doesn't want to sell stuff to potential enemies. Even though it has a long standing history of doing so. For example, selling the keys to early Jet Engines to the Soviets during the Cold War...
Government, make your bloody mind up. The race to the bottom is real and we are just seeing the beginning of it in the farce of the recent mini-budget. There's really not that much left "unsold" so...