(Yicai Global) Aug. 16 -- The Dutch subsidiary of Wingtech Technology has concluded acquisition procedures of the UK’s largest chipmaker and the handover is complete, China’s biggest smartphone assembler said yesterday as it moves to gain a bigger slice of the global automotive chip market.

Nexperia received notification that it holds 100 percent equity in Newport Wafer Fab on Aug. 12, Jiaxing, southeastern Zhejiang province-based Wingtech said. While the price has not been announced, it is expected to be in the region of GBP63 million (USD87.3 million).

Owned by Neptune 6, Newport Wafer Fab mainly produces silicon chips for use in the automotive industry. Nijmegen-based Nexperia was already a customer of the firm’s foundry service and became its second-largest shareholder in 2019.

The acquisition will improve Nexperia’s manufacturing capabilities in automotive-grade insulated gate bipolar transistors and other items, Wingtech said. The firm is following in the footsteps of several big chipmakers who are looking to hike output of car chips as demand for new energy vehicles booms. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company said earlier this year that it will increase production of microcontroller units, a key component of auto semiconductors, by 60 percent this year from last year.

The Welsh chip plant ran up losses of GBP18.6 million (USD25.8 million) last year on revenue of GBP30.9 million. It had net assets worth minus GBP5.18 million and total assets of GBP44.7 million (USD62 million) as of the end of 2020. The deficit is not expected to have much impact on Wingtech’s operations, Wingtech said.

Editors: Xu Wei, Kim Taylor