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China Government United Kingdom Hardware

Chinese Takeover of UK's Largest Chip Plant Blocked on National Security Grounds (cnbc.com) 45

Posted by EditorDavid from the chips-and-China dept.
Slashdot has been covering plans for the UK's largest chip plant to be acquired by Chinese-owned firm Nexperia.

But this week the U.K. government "has blocked the takeover of the country's largest microchip factory by a Chinese-owned firm," CNBC reported this week, "over concerns it may undermine national security." Grant Shapps, minister for business, energy and industrial strategy, on Wednesday ordered Dutch chipmaker Nexperia to sell its majority stake in Newport Wafer Fab, the Welsh semiconductor firm it acquired for £63 million ($75 million).

Nexperia is based in the Netherlands but owned by Wingtech, a partially Chinese state-backed company listed in Shanghai. Nexperia completed its acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab in 2021, and the firm subsequently changed its name to Nexperia Newport Limited, or NN.

"The order has the effect of requiring Nexperia BV to sell at least 86% of NNL within a specified period and by following a specified process," the United Kingdom's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said in a statement. Nexperia had initially owned 14% of Newport Wafer Fab, but in July 2021 it upped its stake to 100%.

"We welcome foreign trade & investment that supports growth and jobs," Shapps tweeted Wednesday. "But where we identify a risk to national security we will act decisively."
Nexperia plans to appeal the decision.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Chinese Takeover of UK's Largest Chip Plant Blocked on National Security Grounds More

Chinese Takeover of UK's Largest Chip Plant Blocked on National Security Grounds

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  • Looking around on web I see this plant did 180 nm node process. My sides, China and plenty of other countries could do that with or without this plant.

    Yes, it's an important and still "hot" ( for sales/money) and mature process node, but what in the world would it have to do with national security?

    • Re:180 nm node processes?! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by blahbooboo2 ( 602610 ) on Saturday November 19, 2022 @11:03PM (#63065029)
      It's probably things not published in the article...

    • Re:180 nm node processes?! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Knightman ( 142928 ) on Saturday November 19, 2022 @11:29PM (#63065059)

      You'd be surprised how much stuff runs on IC's made on old nodes, just think of milspec chips for example where reliability and robustness are more important.

      Having the ability to manufacture your own IC's for those types of applications securely is a national security concern.

      • Secure manufacture for UK? UK has plenty of other fab plants though, bigger and smaller node.

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by beheaderaswp ( 549877 ) *

      Well in general, the west is losing it's shit over China rising up to first world status.

      So... we may see moves like this which represent geopolitics rather than true security issues. Though, not knowing the behind the scenes details it's hard to speculate.

      But in a world of 370(?) countries... being number 2 or 5 should bother anyone.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        It's about them recreating Maoist China while building a 1st world army & pilfering all the tech they don't have & can't quickly create.
        Chinese companies are entirely beholden to the CCP; they cannot refuse to do what Beijing demands.
        If international law gets in the way, they'll work around it or flout it entirely.
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

        • Surely every company is "beholden" to do whatever their local jurisdiction demands? Or are you saying that Newport Wafer is somehow allowed to refuse to adhere to the government's direction and the government can't do anything about it?

        • Chinese companies are the CCP. Everything that comes out of that dirge of a country is the CCP.

      • Re:180 nm node processes?! (Score:5, Informative)

        by hdyoung ( 5182939 ) on Sunday November 20, 2022 @12:21AM (#63065095)
        First world status? Don’t make me laugh. In terms of GDP per capita, they’re somewhere between Thailand and Serbia. They havent even caught up with Russia yet. And I’m doubtful they will. Their emperor is sending strong messages that he’s fed up with capitalism and that thought control is back in vogue. My bet is that they’re gonna tear down 25 years of progress in the next 10 years. Its way easier to wreck a society than to build one up.

        Yeah, the west has decided to block China’s attempts to become a dominant player. Almost the exact same playbook that was used with the USSR and the same outcome is likely. The only people who like emperors and czars are other emperors, other dictators and other czars.

        • Beat me to it.

          China is not headed in the first world direction.

          They're huge so it won't happen over night but their long term trajectory is downwards. It took a few decades to crawl part way out of the muck, it'll take many years to sink back in. Cause? In addition to turning away from capitalism, and being heavily top down from the government (aka Xi / "Pooh Bear"), they've been wrecking their environment, created an anti-intellectual / anti-creative educational system, and have levels of corruption app

          • Stupid one child policy by dictatorship.
            That was the best thing China ever did ...

            And the rest of your post makes no real sense. I suggest to visit the country once. Or at least watch YT videos about it ...

            • Ive been there. They have massive modern cities that are bigger than anything in the US. Doesnt change the fact their per person productivity is less than a third of the US and most measurable economic and societal variables are either stalled or headed in the wrong direction. The US is having its own big problems but China looks to be caught in the middle income trap big time.

            • I have been there. And? What was your point?

              I was in their biggest cities. I was in smaller completely non-westernized cities and I was in dirt floor poor shit hole villages. I talked to farmers and pottery makers. I talked to bar owners. I talked to cabbies and restaurant staff. I talked with the government guide who took us through the terra-cotta warriors site.

              Did I miss something? Please enlighten me.

        • First world status? Don’t make me laugh. In terms of GDP per capita, they’re somewhere between Thailand and Serbia. They havent even caught up with Russia yet. And I’m doubtful they will. Their emperor is sending strong messages that he’s fed up with capitalism and that thought control is back in vogue. My bet is that they’re gonna tear down 25 years of progress in the next 10 years. Its way easier to wreck a society than to build one up.

          To be precise, he wrote "first world army, not being a first world country

        • If per capita GDP were an appropriate metric for a country's ability for military or economic antagonism, then we should be afraid of Luxembourg and Liechtenstein and not at all afraid of North Korea.

          Rather the two main metrics should be (1) the absolute military or economic might and (2) friendliness toward other countries. Yes, China should most definitely be wary of the US and the West, and likewise, the US and the West should most definitely be wary of China.

      • They are nowhere near 1st world status. They are still an 8th world shithole. GDP is different though, but hey, that's a moving target at this point. Also, currently, there are 195 different countries in the world. not 370. lol

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fazig ( 2909523 )
      "Chips" aren't only used in cutting edge processing hardware.

      And after Russia's Lebensraum (in the West) special military operation, with China mostly being silent while eying to do the same to Taiwan itself, we're likely going to see more of such moves in the near future as part of a push to keep the influence of authoritarian governments on the economies of democratic countries low.
      These are developments in Germany for example https://www.reuters.com/busine... [reuters.com] only about two weeks after their chancello

      • At this node size it's utter nonsense and fear mongering though. 23 year old tech and the chips are made everywhere, even in Russia and other boo so scary bad countries like Belarus. Gaslighting by politicians, stuff is as common as dirt.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by fazig ( 2909523 )
          It's more about retaining control of assets within the own boarders than denying others the use of such technology. Something that China itself has done since forever for example.

          Welcome to the generally approved nationalism of the 21st century.

          • meanwhile most their stuff contains chinese semiconductors, same as in USA.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by fazig ( 2909523 )
              That's what European politicians have been waking up to recently.
              They made their economies largely dependent on Chinese products under some mutual trade dependence delusion keeping peace, while China itself doesn't follow such a mutual dependence approach itself. Instead China also tries to do everything domestically, even though they're perhaps decades behind on some stuff.

              The plan is to change that in Europe with more market intervention like regulations and state funding, securing domestic industry.
    • Are you really this inept? Look at the chip shortages covid caused. What happens when your defense contractors run into shortages in the middle of a conflict or buildup to one? Its not about the Fab technology as much as it is access to the Fab itself, even beyond defense contracts. Do you realize what impact simply not making any new cars can do for public unrest? That alone is a national security issue. National security involves direct and indirect threats to a nation. Destabilizing a country with produc

      • You are the hilarious inept one. The chips at this node size are made the planet over, it's 1999 level stuff everyone has royalty system to make. We have literal tons of the chinese made stuff (and from other countries) already in cars and appliances and elators..

        You're talking as if UK has this one plant that makes something rare. No, they have many fabs, at this node size and bigger and smaller, and the stuff made at this plant is common as dirt, old as in 1999 level, and made the world over.

        Stop bein

    • Aside from outright theft of IP, how about baking hardwired backdoors into the silicon? Less likely with such a 'mature' process, but if you're the ones making the silicon for someone else, you could theoretically alter their designs to compromise systems that silicon is used in.

      • China makes that stuff themselves in various fabs in their country, and we buy and use literal tons of it

        Not seeing how this UK thing is going to be hub for eveeel chinese chips

    • Let them. In the meantime, China should be blocked from owning anything anywhere. Let whoever sells to them do so at their own peril.
  • Why would a French Fry company have anything to do with national security?
  • With all the restrictions on chipmaking supplies and technology, China is going to find themselves make semiconductors with a microscope and a chisel.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by haruchai ( 17472 )

      With all the restrictions on chipmaking supplies and technology, China is going to find themselves make semiconductors with a microscope and a chisel.

      if they can't buy, they'll steal

  • Given the downturn in the chip market, Nexperia may as well just shut the company down, lay off the staff, and scrap the equipment. As a way of saying "fuck you" to the UK government.

  • Proof that big corporations don't give a rats ass about national security - they only care about the almighty dollar (or pound in this instance)
  • The ARM deal came at a difficult time, and flag-waving for chip makers doesn't get you the newspaper coverage and free political points that flag-waving political gain f/or traditional jobs like steelworkers or shop workers gets you.

    Nevertheless, the ARM deal was terrible for the UK and let a serious asset out of the national sphere. I'm happy to see people belatedly waking up to the fact 'modern' industries need looking at too, but I would really have appreciated it at the correct time as well.

    • If it makes you feel any better, RISC-V is probably going to wind up punching ARM right in the dick because this is capitalism and licensing fees are relevant.

  • The solution being for the Chinese to blow-up the factory, thereby forcing the UK to buy its chips from the US /s
  • Very important distinction. State-Owned means it is part of the government.

    • Many companies in China are 40% owned by the state. They may also have government officials in the board room reviewing corporate activities. The distinction between state backed and state owned in China is blurry.

  • Newport State Of Mind. A true classic:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eijc2tGe-zM

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