Nexperia obtains ownership of Newport Wafer Fab -- renamed Nexperia Newport

Nexperia, an expert in essential semiconductors, has completed the transaction to acquire Newport Wafer Fab (NWF), contributing to the company’s growth ambitions and investments to boost global production capacity.

With this acquisition, Nexperia obtains 100% ownership of the Welsh semiconductor production facility. Nexperia Newport will continue to have a strong position in the Welsh ecosystem and technology development and will secure the current jobs at the Newport site and others across the region.

“We are very excited to include Newport as part of our global manufacturing footprint. Nexperia has ambitious growth plans and adding Newport supports the growing global demand for semiconductors,” said Achim Kempe, Nexperia’s COO. “The Newport facility has a very skilled operational team and has a crucial role to play to ensure continuity of operations. We look forward to building a future together.”

Nexperia is a customer of the foundry services offered by Newport Wafer Fab and became its second largest shareholder in 2019. The Newport site complements Nexperia’s other European manufacturing operations in Manchester and Hamburg, which have also seen significant recent investments.

“The change in ownership of the Newport site marks an important step for the future of the facility as well as for the region,” said Drew Nelson, departing chairman Newport. “We are pleased that we are able to maintain the expertise in developing high end silicon devices in the 200 mm wafer fab while at the same time opening up opportunities for us to add new semiconductor technologies”.

The Newport semiconductor production site was first established in 1982 and was originally named INMOS. Current capacity is over 35,000 200 mm wafer starts per month covering a wide range of semiconductor technologies — ranging from MOSFETs and Trench IGBTs using wafer thinning methods to CMOS, analogue, and compound semiconductors.

It will support Nexperia’s strategic 10 bln USD growth ambition and enrich Nexperia’s product lines in IGBT, Analog and compound semiconductors in parallel to the current 8” investments at the Manchester and Hamburg wafer fabs. This acquisition significantly enhances the automotive-qualified product supply capability and the market share of Nexperia.

“The acquisition is great news for the staff here in Newport and the wider business community in the region as Nexperia is providing much-needed investment and stability for the future,” said Paul James, managing director at the Newport site. “We are looking forward to becoming part of the global Nexperia team and are keen to keep the current workforce. Additional local resources may be required too. We are also pleased that we will be able continue to contribute to the local ecosystem.”