UK to review Nexperia’s fab acquisition

The British government will review the acquisition of the Newport Wafer Fab by Chinese-owned Nexperia after all. Two days after the deal was announced, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Members of Parliament that he asked his national security adviser to evaluate the takeover of the Welsh facility. “We have to judge that the stuff that they’re making is of real intellectual property value and interest to China, whether there are real security implications,” he said.

Previously, it seemed like the deal would be waved through by the authorities. Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said that the government was monitoring the situation closely, “but doesn’t consider it appropriate to intervene at the current time.” The Welsh secretary, too, said he was “satisfied” that security issues were not at play.