Security fears are intensifying over the controversial takeover of Britain’s largest semiconductor plant by a state-backed Chinese company. Senior MPs in the ruling Conservative Party have called on the British government to deploy the new National Security and Investment Act and scrap the £63 million ($77 million) sale of Newport Wafer Lab to Wingtech Technology through its European business, Nexperia.
“Chinese interests are trying to take control of the UK’s largest chip maker. So far, the government has done nothing serious to stop it,” warned Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, on May 15 in an op-ed for the Mail on Sunday.
He said the implications of global dependency have become starker, adding: “This is exactly what the National Security and Investment Act is for … This is a question of security. It’s about our future and the future of innovation and manufacturing in the UK. But it’s not a question that our intelligence agencies can answer—it’s not about today’s spies but tomorrow’s firms.”
Another Tory heavyweight, the former Brexit Secretary David Davis, claimed the sale of Newport Wafer Lab was a test case for the government to act in the national interest, and said if it was to be sold, it should be to an ally.
“Maybe we need to make an explicit, overt statement that companies like this can be sold to NATO powers but cannot be sold beyond those groups,” he told the Mail on Sunday.
Davis added: “Normally, we want to be as open as possible about the ownership of private enterprises. In this case, there is a very strong argument for saying it’s got to be a British company or a NATO power. It really is as simple as that.”
Toni Versluijs, a senior Nexperia executive, brushed off national security concerns and denied any state influence or state ownership, saying the company was Dutch with “a primarily European heritage.”
The CEO of Nexperia is Xuezheng Zhang who founded Wingtech Technology in 2006, Nexperia’s current controlling shareholder.
Zhang is the chairman and chief executive of Wingtech, which according to Chinese investment screening specialists Datenna, is heavily backed by the Chinese Communist Party, which holds 30 percent of its shares.
The Newport Wafer Lab sale was agreed last year but remains under review after concerns were raised over the ceding of the UK’s semiconductor sovereignty and dependency on malign powers.
The UK’s semiconductor capabilities are currently under review by the government, which is examining closely all Chinese state links in critical national infrastructure.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport is drawing up plans to reduce reliance on imports, while Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is expected to make a final decision on the Newport Wafer Lab takeover next month.
