Vishay is to buy Newport Wafer Fab after years of wrangling over whether it could be owned by Nexperia which is owned y the Chinese  company Wingtech.

Vishay paid $177 million cash for the company. Nexperia bought it in 2021 for $63 million. Vishay will set up a SiC line to make Trench MOSFETs and diodes.

“Adding Newport Wafer Fab to our manufacturing footprint will be instrumental to achieving our goal of expanding capacity for our customers and to accelerating our SiC strategy,” says Vishay  CEO Joel Smejkal, “Vishay will immediately bring stability and its reliable cash flow generation to ensure the facility becomes a fully operational and profitable fab.”

“Of all options, this agreement with Vishay is the most viable one to secure the future of the site, as Vishay – like Nexperia – has a solid customer base for the fab’s capabilities,” said Nexperia’s UK country manager Toni Versluijs.