New Chinese owner says UK chipmaker will stay in Britain

THE Chinese-owned company whose controversial takeover of a UK chipmaker is being reviewed by the Government has told MPs it is ‘here to stay’.

Toni Versluijs, UK boss of Nexperia, also said the national security review into the deal ordered by Prime Minister Boris Johnson a year ago was causing impatience among customers and investors.

Nexperia completed its takeover of Newport Wafer Fab last summer but some MPs say it is ‘madness’ for such a firm to fall into the hands of a Chinesecontrolled company.

Versluijs, who gave evidence yesterday to the Commons business select committee, brushed off suggestions that it might close the South Walesbased business and move operations abroad.

He told MPs: ‘We’re not planning to shut any operations.’

Netherlands-based Nexperia – which is majority owned by Chinese firm Wingtech – already has a site in Stockport dating back more than 50 years, and Versluijs said it had ‘invested big time’ in both sites, creating jobs.

‘We are here to stay,’ he told the committee.

Versluijs agreed that national security matters needed to be ‘investigated in a good and diligent way’.

‘At the same time, this investigation also needs to be done swiftly – and we see that our customers are becoming impatient on clarity and also for some of our employees,’ he said.

‘Last week, a young lady in Newport stepped into the office of a general manager and said, “Look, I just bought a new house. After this review will I still have a job?”

‘I think it’s in everybody’s interest to give clarification, if not for Nexperia, for people like the young lady.’