Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee
Conclusion 2
Sixth report - Sovereignty for sale: follow-up to the acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab
Published 5 Apr 2022
Paragraph 19
Addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Foreign Affairs Committee The FCDO’s role in blocking foreign asset stripping in the UK All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Government has explicitly recognised the criticality of semiconductors to the UK’s national security and wider global interests; likewise, the Chinese Government’s ambitions to achieve self-sufficiency in semiconductors and the means by which it aims to achieve this are well documented. These factors, compounded by the current global semiconductor shortage, mean that the Government’s apparent failure to take this matter seriously is likely to damage the UK’s national interest.
From: Foreign Affairs Committee, Sixth report - Sovereignty for sale: follow-up to the acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab (HC 1245), paragraph 19, 5 April 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 28 April 2022 (deadline 5 June 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government "takes careful note" of the Committee's report and conclusions, responds to each, and says no decisions have been made on the acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab by Nexperia.
- On the National Security Adviser's role, the Government says the Investment Security Unit advises the Secretary of State and that "Where appropriate, this can include advice from the National Security Adviser".
- It says the Prime Minister asked the National Security Adviser to review the case because he is the Prime Minister's "lead official on matters of national security".
- On Newport Wafer Fab, it says it "continues to consider" the Nexperia acquisition and that "no decisions have been made". It does not comment on details of individual transactions or national security assessments.
- It states that, where the statutory tests are met, the Secretary of State may call in a qualifying acquisition he is aware of up to six months after commencement of the Act on 4 January 2022.