Wales to see £250m investment into UK’s largest semiconductor facility

The investment in the facility, which is the UK’s largest semiconductor manufacturing plant, will be used to boost the production of advanced Silicon Carbide semiconductors, which are key to improving performance and driving faster battery charging time in the EV sector.

Supported by the government’s Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF), the investment will help secure domestic supplies of semiconductors critical to the UK automotive industry, and other key industries including renewable energy and defence, supporting the Industrial Strategy. The boost is expected to directly support over 500 high value, high skilled jobs in the region and indirectly support hundreds more in the wider supply chain.

Commenting on the announcement business and trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “This is a huge vote of confidence in the Welsh economy and our plans to make Britain the destination of choice for investments in the industries of tomorrow. It will support local skilled jobs and raise living standards. Vishay’s investment will help secure a domestic supply of semiconductors which are vital for our world leading automotive sector and support our clean energy industries – key growth driving sectors identified in our upcoming Industrial Strategy.”

Roy Shoshani, COO Semiconductors and CTO for Vishay, added: “This is an exciting moment, and the start of our plans for growth in the UK. We can see through the development of the Industrial Strategy and the skilled workforce in Newport that there is a real opportunity to play to the UK’s strength in advanced semiconductors, delivering greater economic security and supporting Net Zero.”

This is the latest in a series of investments in the former Newport Wafer Fab facility, that Vishay purchased in 2023. Last year, the American firm announced an additional investment of £51m in the site.