Nexperia obtains 100% ownership of Newport Wafer Fab

16th July 2021

Nexperia

Alex Lynn

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Nexperia has completed the transaction to acquire Newport Wafer Fab (NWF), contributing to the company’s growth ambitions and investments to boost global production capacity. With the acquisition, Nexperia obtains 100% ownership of the Welsh semiconductor production facility. Nexperia Newport will continue to have a strong position in the Welsh ecosystem and technology development and will secure the current jobs at the Newport site and others across the region.

Nexperia is a customer of the foundry services offered by Newport Wafer Fab and became its second largest shareholder in 2019. The Newport site complements Nexperia’s other European manufacturing operations in Manchester and Hamburg, which have also seen significant recent investments.

Achim Kempe, Nexperia’s Chief Operations Officer, said: “We are very excited to include Newport as part of our global manufacturing footprint. Nexperia has ambitious growth plans and adding Newport supports the growing global demand for semiconductors. 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”.

Paul James, Operations Director at the Newport site, added: “The acquisition is great news for the staff here in Newport and the wider business community in the region as Nexperia is providing much-needed investment and stability for the future. We are looking forward to becoming part of the global Nexperia team and are keen to keep the current workforce. Additional local resources may be required too. We are also pleased that we will be able continue to contribute to the local ecosystem.”

Drew Nelson, departing chairman Newport, said: “The change in ownership of the Newport site marks an important step for the future of the facility as well as for the region. We are pleased that we are able to maintain the expertise in developing high end silicon devices in the 200 mm wafer fab while at the same time opening up opportunities for us to add new semiconductor technologies”.

The Newport semiconductor production site was first established in 1982 and was originally named INMOS. Current capacity is over 35,000 200 mm wafer starts per month covering a wide range of semiconductor technologies ranging from MOSFETs and Trench IGBTs using wafer thinning methods to CMOS, analogue and compound semiconductors.

It will support Nexperia’s strategic $10bn growth ambition and enrich Nexperia’s product lines in IGBT, analogue and compound semiconductors in parallel to the current 8” investments at the Manchester and Hamburg wafer fabs. This acquisition significantly enhances the automotive-qualified product supply capability and the market share of Nexperia.