Boris Johnson on Wednesday said the UK government would probe the takeover of the UK’s largest silicon wafer manufacturer by a Chinese-backed company on national security grounds, reported the Financial Times.
Newport Wafer Fab, which produces silicon wafers at its plant in south Wales and employs 450 people, was recently purchased by Nexperia, a Netherlands-based company that is Chinese owned and already operates a similar facility in Manchester.
Speaking at a parliamentary select committee on Wednesday, Johnson said concerns about the takeover had been flagged to Westminster by the Welsh government. Sir Stephen Lovegrove, the national security adviser, will investigate the takeover.
“We have to judge whether the stuff that they are making is of real intellectual property value and interest to China, whether there are real security implications,” he said, adding: “I have asked the national security adviser to review.”