{"id":131533,"date":"2021-07-08T08:10:03","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T08:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=131533"},"modified":"2021-07-08T08:10:03","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T08:10:03","slug":"uk-to-review-sale-of-chip-manufacturer-to-chinese-owned-firm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/uk-to-review-sale-of-chip-manufacturer-to-chinese-owned-firm\/","title":{"rendered":"UK to review sale of chip manufacturer to Chinese-owned firm"},"content":{"rendered":"
Britain’s national security adviser is looking into the sale of a major UK chip manufacturer to a Chinese-owned firm.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Boris Johnson<\/strong> said he had asked Sir Stephen Lovegrove to look into the purchase of Newport Wafer Fab by Nexperia.<\/p>\n Mr Johnson said: “We have to judge whether the stuff that they are making is of real intellectual property value and interest to China<\/strong>, whether there are real security implications.<\/p>\n “I have asked the National Security Adviser to look at it.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But the prime minister told MPs that he did not want an “anti-China spirit” to “lead to us trying to pitchfork away every investment from China into this country”.<\/p>\n Mr Johnson revealed the intervention as he was questioned by members of a parliamentary committee on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Nexperia said on Monday that it had completed its takeover of Newport Wafer Fab in a deal which it said would secure jobs at the south Wales<\/strong> site.<\/p>\n Chinese firm Wingtech Technology has a controlling stake in Dutch-based Nexperia.<\/p>\n It comes at a time when shortages of semiconductor chip supplies are hampering businesses across the world, with car makers and retailers notably reporting<\/strong> difficulties.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat told the prime minister: “We are seeing a Chinese state-backed entity buying a semiconductor manufacturer at a time of global shortage when Beijing is already looking to stockpile semiconductors.<\/p>\n “If China think this is a matter of their national security and essential to their sovereignty, if Italy, if Brussels, if the United States, if other countries and other entities agree, why don’t you?”<\/p>\n The prime minister said: “I think semiconductors are of huge importance to this country.”<\/p>\n Mr Johnson said the Welsh government had asked Whitehall to “deal with it” – though this was denied by Mark Drakeford’s administration in Cardiff.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, the government intervened<\/strong> in the planned $40bn (£29bn) sale of UK-based chip maker Arm Holdings by its current Japanese owner to America’s Nvidia – asking regulators to report on any national security implications.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, concerns over Chinese involvement in key parts of the economy have grown over the last couple of years both in Britain and the US.<\/p>\n Last year the government reversed its policy on telecoms firm Huawei<\/strong>‘s involvement in the roll-out of Britain’s 5G infrastructure, announcing that<\/strong> its equipment must be stripped out of the network by 2027.<\/p>\n Subscribe to Into The Grey Zone podcast on <\/strong>Apple Podcasts<\/strong>, <\/strong>Spotify<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n