Vishay Intertechnology will acquire Nexperia’s wafer fabrication facility and operations in Newport, South Wales, UK for approximately US$177m in cash.
Newport Wafer Fab, located on 28 acres, is an automotive certified 200mm semiconductor wafer fab which supplies primarily automotive markets.
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It is the largest semiconductor manufacturing site in the UK.
“Adding Newport Wafer Fab to our manufacturing footprint will be instrumental to achieving our goal of expanding capacity for our customers,” said Joel Smejkal, president and CEO of Vishay.
“In addition to expanding capacity, we intend to collaborate with the Compound Semiconductor Cluster in South Wales and to join with key stakeholders committed to developing the semiconductor industry in the UK including university and community partners in the UK and particularly South Wales.
Toni Versluijs, country manager, Nexperia, said: “[We] would have preferred to continue the long-term strategy implemented when [we] acquired the investment-starved fab in 2021 and provided for massive investments in equipment and personnel. However, these investment plans have been cut short by the unexpected and wrongful divestment order made by the UK government in November 2022.
“The [government’s] order, in combination with a weakness in the global semiconductor market, recently led us to announce the intention to reduce the number of employees at the site by at least 100. The site needs clarity about its future to avoid further losses, and today’s announcement provides this.”
The closing of the transaction is subject to UK government review, the purchase rights of a third party and customary closing conditions, and is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2024.
