(Yicai) Nov. 10 -- Wingtech Technology, China’s biggest smartphone assembler, will sell a wafer plant in the United Kingdom owned by Dutch subsidiary Nexperia following an order issued by the British government over national security concerns.

Nexperia will sell the Newport Wafer Fab to Siliconix, a unit of Vishay Intertechnology, for USD177 million, Jiaxing-based Wingtech announced on Nov. 8. 

Nexperia acquired Neptune 6, the parent company of NWF which was on the verge of bankruptcy, in July 2021. Wingtech expects the sale of NWF to complete next year and bring a return on investment of USD53 million.

After the UK’s National Security and Investment Act came into force in January last year, Nexperia received notification in the November from the country’s Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy requiring it to sell at least 86 percent of NWF. Nexperia disagreed with the order and is still in the process of appealing it.

The agreed sale needs to be reviewed by the British government, await any right of first refusal claim, and gain Nexperia’s consent, according to Wingtech.

This is the kind of pressure and challenge that Nexperia faces as it goed global, Securities Times reported, citing a source at Wingtech. Selling the UK chipmaking plant under this type of pressure demonstrates the sense of responsibility Nexperia’s management has, the person said.

NWF made only a small contribution to production capacity at Wingtech’s semiconductor business. The company will raise its wafer capacity mainly by upgrading that of Nexperia’s other plants in Manchester and Hamburg and outsourcing more, Wingtech pointed out.

Nexperia worked out a long-term business plan for NWF after buying Neptune 6, hiked investment in the plant, upgraded its machinery and devices, and recruited more staff.

Neptune 6 had a net loss of USD21 million in the first nine months of the year on revenue of USD54 million, Wingtech said in its Nov. 8 statement. It also had USD143 million of assets and USD92 million of liabilities as of Sept. 30.

Vishay had nearly USD4.2 billion of total assets and more than USD2.2 billion of net assets as of the end of June. It posted a first-half net profit of USD207 million and revenue of USD1.8 billion.

Founded in 2006, Wingtech researches, develops, and designs semiconductor power devices and analog chips, makes wafers, does packaging and testing, and provides services for products such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, servers, the internet of things, and auto electronics products.

Editor: Futura Costaglione