Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 16 of 38

Thread: UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm

  1. #1
    HEXUS.admin
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Posts
    31,709
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    2,073 times in 719 posts

    UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm

    Newport Wafer Fab, in South Wales, was bought by Nexperia for approx £63 million.
    Read more.

  2. #2
    Ravens Nest
    Guest

    Re: UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm


    Then again its in wales, but I think you get my point.

  3. Received thanks from:

    AGTDenton (08-07-2021)

  4. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Posts
    12,113
    Thanks
    906
    Thanked
    580 times in 405 posts

    Re: UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm

    Yup, this was my first thought as well, now we are out of the EU we're going to be looking at sourcing and producing locally, so selling stuff off seems like a bloody daft idea really...

  5. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    2,385
    Thanks
    181
    Thanked
    304 times in 221 posts

    Re: UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm

    I wonder if this was some part of negotiation/trade deal and that's why the British Gov did sweet fanny adams.

  6. #5
    Senior Member Kovoet's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    London
    Posts
    895
    Thanks
    80
    Thanked
    55 times in 45 posts
    • Kovoet's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus ROG crosshair Hero VIII x 2
      • CPU:
      • AMD 5900x
      • Memory:
      • 32GB Viper 3733mhz
      • Storage:
      • Samsung 980 pro 500GB Samsung 850 512GB,Samsung 860 1TB SSD & 950 PRO NVMe M.2 SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Gigabyte RTX3070Ti, EVGA RTX 3060Ti
      • PSU:
      • Corsair AX1200i, RMX850
      • Case:
      • Corsair Carbide 680x
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • Asus Tuf VG32VQ1B
      • Internet:
      • 1GB Virgin

    Re: UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm

    Are we going to own anything just now. Only thing we haven't sold is the pound.

  7. #6
    Chaos Monkey Apex's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Huddersfield
    Posts
    4,706
    Thanks
    1,139
    Thanked
    284 times in 203 posts
    • Apex's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Z87M-PLUS
      • CPU:
      • Intel i5-4670K
      • Memory:
      • 32 GiB
      • Storage:
      • 20 TiB
      • Graphics card(s):
      • PowerColor Radeon RX 6700 Fighter 10GB OC
      • PSU:
      • 750
      • Case:
      • Core View 21
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGFA
      • Internet:
      • 200Mb nTL Cable

    Re: UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm

    What a way to shoot yourself in the foot, jesus.

  8. #7
    Moosing about! CAT-THE-FIFTH's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Not here
    Posts
    32,039
    Thanks
    3,910
    Thanked
    5,224 times in 4,015 posts
    • CAT-THE-FIFTH's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Less E-PEEN
      • CPU:
      • Massive E-PEEN
      • Memory:
      • RGB E-PEEN
      • Storage:
      • Not in any order
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVEN BIGGER E-PEEN
      • PSU:
      • OVERSIZED
      • Case:
      • UNDERSIZED
      • Operating System:
      • DOS 6.22
      • Monitor(s):
      • NOT USUALLY ON....WHEN I POST
      • Internet:
      • FUNCTIONAL

    Re: UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm

    ARM is US owned. Imagination Technologies(thanks to Apple) is Chinese owned. GKN is owned by Venture capitalists. Cobham is now owned by a US private equity firm. Basically some of the most important technology companies in the UK are owned by mostly foreign countries.

    Having said that this fab was already foreign owned,so it's transferring ownership to another foreign entity. But you might find some everyday names are Chinese owned - Odeon being one of them.
    Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 06-07-2021 at 12:02 PM.

  9. #8
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    2,385
    Thanks
    181
    Thanked
    304 times in 221 posts

    Re: UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    ARM is US owned.
    For now, it's Japanese owned unless authorisation is giving to Nvidia to acquire them.

    My cynicism says that Nvidia will be all nicey nicey to start but will swiftly be used by the US Government to restrict who can use ARM around the world while Nvidia will slowly decay the ability for ARM to be impartial to all of its licensees for its own benefit.

  10. #9
    Moosing about! CAT-THE-FIFTH's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Not here
    Posts
    32,039
    Thanks
    3,910
    Thanked
    5,224 times in 4,015 posts
    • CAT-THE-FIFTH's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Less E-PEEN
      • CPU:
      • Massive E-PEEN
      • Memory:
      • RGB E-PEEN
      • Storage:
      • Not in any order
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVEN BIGGER E-PEEN
      • PSU:
      • OVERSIZED
      • Case:
      • UNDERSIZED
      • Operating System:
      • DOS 6.22
      • Monitor(s):
      • NOT USUALLY ON....WHEN I POST
      • Internet:
      • FUNCTIONAL

    Re: UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm

    Quote Originally Posted by Tabbykatze View Post
    For now, it's Japanese owned unless authorisation is giving to Nvidia to acquire them.

    My cynicism says that Nvidia will be all nicey nicey to start but will swiftly be used by the US Government to restrict who can use ARM around the world while Nvidia will slowly decay the ability for ARM to be impartial to all of its licensees for its own benefit.
    We have never blocked recent acquisitions,so its seems like we just go through motions and some smaller customers have said they are OK with it. Due to the machinations of Apple,Imagination Technologies is now owned by Chinese backers.

    Basically this is the beginning of the end of ARM IMHO. No country will want to be using ARM for important national products,because its very easy for the US not to allow export authorisations.
    It could literally be a whole airliner for example,especially if a key part of the flight control system uses a chip that can't be substituted. IIRC,this has been done before.

    As much as I agree we have to be wary of China,blocking the smartphone operations of Huawei seems to have been of no real use,apart from helping Apple. The block only happened after they went past Apple - it also mostly affected markets outside the US,where Huawei has more sway. It wasn't like Huawei or most of these Chinese companies have that much share in the US - they are mostly really popular in middle income and third world countries.

    If anything,it seems even the EU and India,are moving towards RISC V.

    I wonder how long before Reaction Engines is also swallowed up by a foreign company??

  11. #10
    Registered+
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Posts
    65
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    22 times in 13 posts

    Re: UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm

    63 million plus the debits is chump change for any large building in the UK let alone the technology inside. We should be leveraging this sort of technology for the good of the UK, but won't as we just sell everything off for short term gain. No future planning at all from our government, it's all about the quick bucks now.

  12. Received thanks from:

    CAT-THE-FIFTH (06-07-2021),Phage (06-07-2021)

  13. #11
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    15
    Thanked
    114 times in 102 posts

    Re: UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm

    With the current global shortages and other issues, which have been shown during covid, the UK should be investing in bringing more of the things we import into this country not selling off what little we have....

  14. #12
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Posts
    207
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    14 times in 12 posts

    Re: UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm

    http://www.radiofreemobile.com/usa-v...ductive-edges/

    Explained in the link above, China cannot compete with TSMC its decades behind.

    What it can do is compete in other niche areas which is why they bought the plant.

    It's not some crazy important strategic asset to the UK, that's why its being sold and no-one is stupid enough to hand over the tech that would allow China to undermine TSMC, the would enrage the American establishment and provoke a response.
    Last edited by Kato-2; 06-07-2021 at 12:30 PM. Reason: spelling

  15. #13
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jun 2021
    Posts
    1
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    Re: UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm

    If you're wondering what kind of cutting edge process they support... 'from 0.18µm and above'.

    So power, and maybe some RF stuff, but not much else.

  16. #14
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Posts
    3,895
    Thanks
    935
    Thanked
    971 times in 717 posts

    Re: UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm

    Quote Originally Posted by [GSV]Trig View Post
    Yup, this was my first thought as well, now we are out of the EU we're going to be looking at sourcing and producing locally, so selling stuff off seems like a bloody daft idea really...
    Absolutely spot on.

    Problem is, when things are privately owned, it's hard to prevent the owner selling them, unless government (i.e. taxpayers) care to step in on some kind of national security (i.e. protect our capability) basis, and buy it instead. Do we want to start effectively nationalising loads of stuff that falls into thar category?

    And this is a bit different to installing Huawei gear inside critical national comms infrastructure.
    A lesson learned from PeterB about dignity in adversity, so Peter, In Memorium, "Onwards and Upwards".

  17. #15
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Posts
    3,895
    Thanks
    935
    Thanked
    971 times in 717 posts

    Re: UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm

    Quote Originally Posted by LSG501 View Post
    With the current global shortages and other issues, which have been shown during covid, the UK should be investing in bringing more of the things we import into this country not selling off what little we have....
    Agreed, but investing in the right stuff, assuming we can actually do a good enough job. The last thing we need is to sink billions into the tech equivalent of British Leyland .... though it would give our international competitors a good laugh.
    A lesson learned from PeterB about dignity in adversity, so Peter, In Memorium, "Onwards and Upwards".

  18. #16
    Theoretical Element Spud1's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    North West
    Posts
    7,508
    Thanks
    336
    Thanked
    320 times in 255 posts
    • Spud1's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Aorus Master
      • CPU:
      • 9900k
      • Memory:
      • 16GB GSkill Trident Z
      • Storage:
      • Lots.
      • Graphics card(s):
      • RTX3090
      • PSU:
      • 750w
      • Case:
      • BeQuiet Dark Base Pro rev.2
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • Asus PG35VQ
      • Internet:
      • 910/100mb Fibre

    Re: UK's largest chip fab bought by China-owned firm

    OK so i'll be more positive about this

    Good news for the owners, hopefully a nice profit for them.

    What's more interesting/revealing to me is that we actually have Fabs of this size in the UK - I didn't realise we had anything of this sort of scale, given the relatively high cost of labour int he UK, particularly skilled labour, as well as power/regulation/costs of doing business.

    Long may it continue, and fingers crossed the increasing impact of Brexit doesn't hit them too hard!

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •