Former cyber security chief raises alarm over sale of Welsh microchip manufacturer to Chinese-backed company

Published

4 years ago

July 25, 2021

admin

The UK’s former cyber security chief has raised the alarm over the sale of a Welsh microchip manufacturer to a Chinese-backed company.

Ciaran Martin, the former chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said the purchase of Newport Wafer Fab by Nexperia, a Dutch subsidiary of the Chinese company Wingtech, poses a greater threat to British interests than Huawei’s involvement in the 5G network.

Boris Johnson has asked national security adviser Sir Stephen Lovegrove to look at the deal, worth a reported £63m, while MPs have called on ministers to intervene.

But, Charles Smit, a board member and general counsel at Nexperia, told the BBC earlier this week: “We’re not owned by the Chinese state, the Chinese state is not involved in Wingtech.”

Sky News has contacted Nexperia for comment.

Mr Martin, who was chief executive of the NCSC until last August, described the future of microchip supply as a “first order strategic issue” for the government to get a handle on.

He was part of the NCSC when it altered its security assessment of equipment manufactured by Huawei, with the firm eventually excluded from the UK’s rollout of 5G on security grounds.

“Huawei in the periphery of 5G only really mattered because the Trump administration became obsessed with it for reasons they never convincingly set out,” Mr Martin told The Daily Telegraph.

“By contrast the future of semiconductor supply is a first order strategic issue. It goes to the heart of how we should be dealing with China.”

His comments come after the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee called for tougher action to stop strategically important companies being sold overseas.

The cross-party group of MPs said the UK’s “sovereignty should not be for sale” and called for the takeover of Newport Wafer Fab to be formally called in for review.

“Appropriate mitigation measures” should be introduced by ministers, they also said.

“Our fiercest competitors, notably China, have a track record of using foreign investments to gain access to important technologies and information,” committee chairman and Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat said when the report was released.

“We’ve witnessed too many of our country’s brilliant tech firms disappear abroad with potentially significant economic and foreign policy implications.”

Politics

Trump’s tariffs may lead to savings for Americans through tax cuts: Research

Published

21 hours ago

February 22, 2025

admin

Trump’s tariffs may lead to savings for Americans through tax cuts: Research

Prior to the 16th Amendment, which was ratified in 1913, the United States did not have a permanent income tax levied on citizens.

Politics

Jess Phillips says there’s ‘no place’ where violence against women ‘doesn’t happen’ – as spiking to become new offence

Published

1 day ago

February 22, 2025

admin

Jess Phillips says there's 'no place' where violence against women 'doesn't happen' - as spiking to become new offence

Jess Phillips has said “there is no place” where violence against women and girls “doesn’t happen” – as a new law is set to make spiking a criminal offence.

Earlier on Friday, the government said spiking will now be its own offence with a possible 10-year prison sentence as part of the Crime and Policing Bill, which will be introduced in parliament next week.

It also announced a nationwide training programme to help workers spot and prevent attacks.

Speaking to Sky News correspondent Ashna Hurynag, the safeguarding minister said that while spiking is already illegal under existing laws, the new classification will simplify reporting the act for victims.

“Spiking is illegal – that isn’t in question, but what victims and campaigners who have tried to use the legislation as it currently is have told us is that it’s unclear,” Ms Phillips said.

UK ‘was never safe’ for women

When asked if the UK is becoming a less safe place for women, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said: “I don’t think it’s becoming less safe, if I’m being honest. I think it was never safe.”

Speaking about a rise in coverage, Ms Phillips said: “We have a real opportunity to use that, the sense of feeling [built by campaigners] in the country, to really push forward political change in this space.”

“The reality is that it doesn’t matter whether it’s the House of Commons or any pub in your local high street – there is no place where violence against women and girls doesn’t happen, I’m afraid,” she added.

Spiking is when someone is given drugs or alcohol without them knowing or consenting, either by someone putting something in their drink or using a needle.

Police in England and Wales received 6,732 reports of spiking in the year up to April 2023 – with 957 of those relating to needle spiking.

London’s Metropolitan Police added that reports of spiking had increased by 13% in 2023, with 1,383 allegations.

As part of the nationwide training programme, a £250,000 government-funded scheme was started last week to teach staff how to spot warning signs of spiking crimes, prevent incidents and gather evidence.

It aims to train 10,000 staff at pubs, clubs and bars for free by April this year.

Alex Davies-Jones, minister for victims and violence against women and girls, said in a statement that “no one should feel afraid to go out at night” or “have to take extreme precautions to keep themselves safe when they do”.

“To perpetrators, my message is clear: spiking is vile and illegal and we will stop you,” he said. “To victims or those at risk, we want you to know: the law is on your side. Come forward and help us catch these criminals.”

Colin Mackie, founder of Spike Aware UK, also said the charity is “delighted with the steps being taken by the government to combat spiking”.

He added: “Spiking can happen anywhere, but these new initiatives are the first steps to making it socially unacceptable and we urge anyone that suspects or sees it happening, not to remain silent.”