{"id":1416039,"date":"2022-04-02T11:15:10","date_gmt":"2022-04-02T15:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1416039"},"modified":"2022-04-02T11:15:13","modified_gmt":"2022-04-02T15:15:13","slug":"uk-govt-allows-sale-of-largest-microchip-factory-to-communist-chinese-owned-firm-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/uk-govt-allows-sale-of-largest-microchip-factory-to-communist-chinese-owned-firm-report\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Govt Allows Sale of Largest Microchip Factory to Communist Chinese-Owned Firm: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fuk-govt-allows-sale-of-largest-microchip-factory-to-communist-chinese-owned-firm-report%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1416039&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">The British government has reportedly approved the sale of the United Kingdom\u2019s largest microchip factory to a firm owned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), despite concerns over national security.<\/p>\n<p>Newport Wafer Fab (NWF) in Wales, which was forced last year to sell its factory to\u00a0after failing to pay its debts, will apparently be allowed by the government to be sold to the\u00a0Chinese-owned firm Nexperia.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/uk-minister-quietly-approve-chinese-microchip-factory-takeover\/\">report<\/a> from <em>POLITICO<\/em>, a\u00a0review from the government\u2019s national security adviser, Stephen Lovegrove, found that the sale of the semiconductor producer to China did not rise to the level of presenting a national security risk. Under the National Security and Investment Act, should the sale have been determined to present such a risk, the government could have prevented the sale.<\/p>\n<p>An unnamed official told the news outlet that Lovegrove came to the decision to allow the sale to go forward due to\u00a0Newport Wafer Fab using 20-year-old technology which the Chinese already have access to.<\/p>\n<p>When the sale was first announced last year it came under considerable scrutiny, given the vital importance to the economy that semiconductors play, being a critical component of most modern technologies, and in light of the supply chain concerns following the Chinese coronavirus crisis.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>A whistleblower had also previously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/07\/20\/newport-wafer-fab-has-over-a-dozen-contracts-with-british-government.html\">told<\/a>\u00a0CNBC that\u00a0Newport Wafer Fab had received approximately\u00a0\u00a355 million ($75 million) in taxpayer funds and defence contracts for the development of next-generation tech, including\u00a0\u00a35.4 million to work on\u00a0radar systems for fighter jets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody realised that there were a couple of defence-related projects in there,\u201d the whistleblower said at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Nexperia, which is based in\u00a0the Netherlands and has offices in Britain, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nxp.com\/company\/about-nxp\/nxp-and-jac-capital-receive-cfius-clearance:NW-JAC-CFIUS-CLEARANCE\">owned<\/a> by\u00a0JAC Capital, a subsidiary of JIC Capital, a Chinese state-owned investment firm. Nexperia claims to be run independently.<\/p>\n<p>The firm only had to pay\u00a0\u00a363 million to take over ownership of the Welsh factory \u2014 a figure which Forrester analyst Glenn\u00a0O\u2019Donnell characterised last year as \u201cminuscule\u201d, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2021\/07\/21\/uk-microchip-plant-bought-by-china-developed-military-tech-report\/\">explaining<\/a>: \u201cMost wafer fabs cost well over \u00a31 billion. Even if this is older tech, this deal is ridiculously cheap.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">UK Microchip Plant Taken over by Communist China Was Developing British Military Tech: Report <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VMnt6fGoJk\">https:\/\/t.co\/VMnt6fGoJk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartLondon\/status\/1417844812384915462?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 21, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Communist China has reportedly been active in pursuing British tech, with the MI6 security service <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2021\/02\/08\/british-universities-investigation-chinese-communist-party-report\/\">reportedly<\/a> launching an investigation last year into leading British universities for pairing with Chinese weapons developers.<\/p>\n<p>Chinese firms have also been keen on buying up large swaths of the British economy, reportedly spending at least\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2021\/05\/02\/chinese-investor-have-bought-135-billion-in-uk-assets-report\/\">\u00a3135 billion<\/a> to buy ownership stakes in British companies, property, and infrastructure, such as\u00a0Thames Water, Heathrow airport, and UK Power Networks.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2019\/11\/11\/company-with-ties-to-chinese-communists-buys-1-3-of-uk-steel-industry\/\">Communist Party-linked<\/a> Jingye Group has also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-51795414\">taken over<\/a>\u00a0ownership of\u00a0British Steel, which produces one third of the United Kingdom\u2019s domestic steel.<\/p>\n<p>Responding to the government reportedly approving the sale of the semiconductor factory, the former leader of the Conservative Party and the founder of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, said that the move was \u201cridiculous\u201d, noting that semiconductors are an industry that Beijing is seeking to gain \u201ccontrol over\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the government goes down this road, it will become yet another step in the pathetic process of appeasing China who right now is supporting Russia and plans to pose a direct and deliberate threat to the West\u2019s access to microchips and other key components for electronic equipment,\u201d Sir Iain said.<\/p>\n<p>The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Commons,\u00a0Tom Tugendhat, added: \u201cIt\u2019s not clear why we haven\u2019t used our new powers under the National Security and Investment Act to fully review the takeover of one of our leading compound semiconductor companies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is an area where China is sinking billions to compete. The government has no clear strategy to protect what\u2019s left of our semiconductor industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Exclusive: Top Tory Says Invest in British Workers Instead of Relying on \u2018Cheap\u2019 Chinese Products <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/z8mqg8Z4zm\">https:\/\/t.co\/z8mqg8Z4zm<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartLondon\/status\/1445703127953465368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 6, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KurtZindulka\">@KurtZindulka<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The British government has reportedly approved the sale of the United Kingdom\u2019s largest microchip factory to a firm owned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), despite concerns over national security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1416039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1416039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1416039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1416039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1416039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}