US electronics company Vishay has announced it is investing £51 million ($65m) into Newport Wafer Fab, nine months after it completed its £142 million ($177m) takeover of the site in Wales, UK.
The funding includes a £5m ($6.4m) investment from the Welsh government and represents the first phase of a planned £1 billion investment which will see the addition of more than 400 jobs at the site by 2030.
The semiconductor plant, now known as Newport Vishay, already employs around 500 people and is the UK’s largest semiconductor manufacturing site. According to a report from BusinessLive, Vishay is planning to turn the site into a “world-leading” manufacturer of silicon carbide compound semiconductors.
Silicon carbide is a synthetically produced crystalline compound of silicon and carbon. The material provides several advantages over conventional silicon for power applications, including better thermal conductivity, higher switching speeds, and lower dissipation, making it particularly suitable for manufacturing high-voltage power devices.
The chip fab was initially bought by Dutch technology company Nexperia in July 2021. However, because Nexperia is a subsidiary of Shanghai-listed Wingtech, the UK government forced the firm to sell its 86 percent stake in the factory due to concerns that China could undermine the country’s semiconductor production capabilities.
The plant was then bought by Vishay in November 2023, but the deal didn't close until the Cabinet Office cleared the purchase on national security grounds the following March.
Commenting on the investment, Welsh Government economy, energy, and planning cabinet secretary, Rebecca Evans, said: “Compound semiconductors are all around us – in our homes and in our phones, our trains and our turbines. They are a vital, if miniature, piece of what makes the modern world tick, with extremely strong global growth projections. And we in Wales are increasingly a world-leading nation in their production and manufacture.
“Today that is more evident than ever, with our international reputation attracting significant inward investment, the provision and occupation of state-of-the-art facilities, clear links with R&D, and well-paid opportunities for employment and apprenticeships.”
Elsewhere in Newport, South Wales, both Microsoft and Vantage are developing data centers campuses at the region’s Imperial Park. Once complete, Vantage says its 46 acre facility will consist of three data centers support 148MW of critical IT load, making it one of Europe’s largest data center campuses.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is constructing a data center campus on a one million square foot (92,900 sqm) parcel of land that previously held a factory owned by Quinn Radiators. Located virtually next door to Vantage's Newport campus, it is believed the site will comprise two buildings, with local media having previously reported that concerns were raised about the amount of pollution the site’s proposed backup diesel generators could emit.
