Semiconductors Manufacturing Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Science, Innovation & Technology
Lord Wigley
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Semiconductors Manufacturing
Lord Wigley Excerpts(1 year, 3 months ago)
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Viscount Camrose (Con)
My noble friend reminds me that I had the pleasure of visiting the graphene centre at Manchester University just a couple of weeks ago. I share not only his positive views of the material but his positive estimate of its future uses. It will play a significant role in compound semiconductors of many different kinds, and that is one of the areas of focus for the UK’s semiconductor strategy.
Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)
My Lords, shall we allow the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, to contribute and then the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones?
Lord Wigley (PC)
I am very grateful. I want to continue on the basis of the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Alton, regarding the specific Newport Wafer Fab factory. I do not think the Minister got around to answering that fully, and I would be grateful to have his observations on the issue.
Viscount Camrose (Con)
I apologise to the noble Lord for not having reached that bit. The concern about Newport Wafer Fab was that the ultimate owners of the buyer were Chinese investors; hence, under the NSI Act, that was blocked. I cannot comment any further on that specific case because it is under judicial review.