back to article Newport Wafer Fab blames UK government over 100 redundancies plan

Newport Wafer Fab (NWF), Britain's biggest producer of semiconductor components, has pointed the finger of blame at government restrictions for its decision to chop 100 employees amid uncertainty over future ownership. Back in 2021, the Welsh-headquartered company was sold for £63 million ($79 million) to Dutch chipmaker …

  1. m4r35n357

    The workers are British, so they are to be _axed_.

    Anyhow, one more item to add to the list of Tory "services" to UK engineering. Idiots.

    1. darklord

      Its Ok in six months there will 100 new jobs all given to middle kingdom oriented workers, no different to any other middle kingdom owned company and I have worked for three so far and this has happened in them all.

  2. elsergiovolador Silver badge

    Future

    There is not many companies where someone who is specialised in this type of engineering can find employment.

    Most likely those people will have to move overseas or find work doing something else.

    What is particularly wrong - is not the fact that there is an issue of sale per se, but rather the fact that company like this can't prosper in the UK.

    If the company gets sold, I wouldn't be surprised if they had to close anyway after the buyer would have stripped it of its IP and scaled down or closed production.

    The UK has become extremely hostile towards SMEs with punitive taxes and regulatory capture.

    1. katrinab Silver badge
      Meh

      Re: Future

      I don't think there is any IP worth talking about in their 350nm production node. It is just that there is still demand for such chips in some use cases where they are good enough, and it is cheaper to buy it than build a brand new facility somewhere else.

    2. Roland6 Silver badge

      Re: Future

      > likely those people will have to move overseas or find work doing something else.

      Cue the next set piece from the Tory playlist: brain drain of highly skilled workers from the UK…

      Thatcher played this one and Reagan decided not to upset her…

      1. Korev Silver badge
        Unhappy

        Re: Future

        Apart from Brexit made it harder for the skilled workers to escape

        I'm very pleased I got out before the vote...

  3. Tron Silver badge

    Moral. Don't invest in Brexit Britain. It's run by nationalist loons.

    Eventually they will start to nationalise stuff, because it worked so well at British Leyland.

    Looks like ARM got out just in time.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Moral. Don't invest in Brexit Britain. It's run by nationalist loons.

      bravo, right and wrong in the same comment.

      Yes , nationalist loons (Conselfservatives)

      but Conselfservatives are attempting to privatise everything to please their money grabbing mates (see NHS for reference)

  4. Roland6 Silver badge

    "If you look at the facts, then Nexperia saved, actually, Newport from bankruptcy,"

    Given the precarious state of local government funding, is he referring to the city/borough of Newport or just the Wafer Fab?

    Although, the size of investment in the wafer fab would have an impact on the local economy and thus on the demands placed on the local authorities budget…

  5. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge

    It would be

    better if things like that wafer fab were located in the city of London.

    At least then tory mps would support it unconditionally, and have a 50/50 chance of finding it on a map.

    Nooo... I've gone way too cynical ....

    1. Headley_Grange Silver badge

      Re: It would be

      I read an article at the weekend that says if you strip out London, the UK's GDP per head is on a par with Mississippi.

      1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

        Re: It would be

        I read an article at the weekend that says if you strip out London, the UK's GDP per head is on a par with Mississippi. .... Headley_Grange

        You might like to realise London is a unicorn, both breathing in and spewing out toxic vapourware ..... and going nowhere good really fast and furious.

        A fate and destination mirrored right across the West in all of its sad past and presently failing glories ..... which it just loves to deny and declare to one and all would/could only ever be just a temporary glitch able to seek out and destroy their vital universal forces and interdependent sources.

  6. coppice

    A billion is peanuts on seniconductors

    I find it amusing that the government thinks a billion pounds over 10 years represents a meaningful investment in semiconductor manufacturing. Zero makes sense. Give up and avoid waste. 10 billion over a couple of years makes sense. Have a real go at it. 1 billion over 10 years is just money down the drain. 1 billion over 10 years to foster more ARM like companies could make sense, but if manufacturing is your goal it's a bad joke.

  7. martinusher Silver badge

    Rather small beer

    I don't think that anyone in the UK government has any real clue about the scale and reach of semiconductor manufacturing. Tiny Newport was continuing to hold its own despite being barely a bacteria on the rump of the global semiconductor industry until the government started taking an interest.

    Valve manufacturing was at one time a vital industry, critical to the entire electronics industry (and one which the UK was a major player). The business shrunk as semiconductors took over but there are still plants making the things because there's still a small, but steady, demand for this technology. Its not what anyone would call strategic -- people might be inconvenienced if the supply of KT66 valves dried up but most people wouldn't notice == so it doesn't warrant the attentions of 'the government'. I suspect Newport's in the same boat. They have their niche. They're doing OK. Then they get screwed up because government is now the stomping ground of people who are erudite but really, really, ignorant.

    1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

      Re: Rather small beer and what else does one expect when donkeys try leading sleeping lions?

      I suspect Newport's in the same boat. They have their niche. They're doing OK. Then they get screwed up because government is now the stomping ground of people who are erudite but really, really, ignorant. ...... martinusher

      And whenever ignorant erudition is one of those sub-prime, state actor fields which is defaulted to creating hapless support for bullshit endeavours, is the result a guaranteed enterprise failure ..... an unfortunate indisputable fact that both evidence and history confirm as a GOD's* honest truth?

      * ..... Global Operating Devices

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