Discover Vishay and its dedication to investing in the future of Newport
Vishay is a US headquartered company that was established over six decades ago in 1962 and now employs around 24,000 people. The business manufactures a wide range of semiconductors across the world, including in Germany and Italy, and now in Newport, South Wales.
In March 2024, Vishay acquired Newport Wafer Fab, the UK’s biggest semiconductor manufacturing facility. Working closely with the local community, this will bolster the semiconductor industry in South Wales by securing and increasing the number of well-paid, skilled jobs at Newport Wafer Fab.
Although every country and location are different, the Vishay factory near Hamburg in Germany has some similarities to Newport. It works in similar technologies, is a similar size, and was at risk of closure when it was acquired in 1996. Since then, Vishay has secured the future of the site which employs around 500 people and supplies to the automotive industry.
Vishay’s founder, Dr Felix Zandman, was a holocaust survivor who spent his childhood in a Ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland, now Belarus. His inventiveness helped create one of the world’s largest manufacturers of electronic components. The Vishay journey began with a revolutionary technology. From there, the company grew over the decades to become one of the world’s most trusted manufacturers of electronic components. From discrete semiconductors to passive components, from the smallest diode to the most powerful capacitor, Vishay’s breadth of products is the very foundation that brings modern technology to life, every day, for everyone. The company calls it The DNA of tech®.
This DNA is more than infrastructure for today’s most vital electronic products; it’s a platform to enable growth. Vishay is well-positioned to propel such timely macroeconomic growth drivers as sustainability, connectivity and mobility. Through R&D, manufacturing, engineering, quality, sales and marketing, the company generates the essential components that enable inventors and innovators to create new generations of products, spanning a variety of sectors, including automotive, industrial, consumer, computer, telecommunications, military, aerospace, and medical.
Vishay’s technology is behind many well-known brands. Its components are in cars, smartphones, and the wind turbines powering the grid. The company is trusted to deliver when it matters most: its technology helped power the Mars Rover and keeps advanced fighter jets one step ahead of the enemy. Most of Vishay’s products are in power conversion and convert energy from the grid to charge electronics. Its technology is also supporting the roll out of the 5G network.
While Newport Wafer Fab has had several owners in recent years, Vishay is committed to the long term and wants to bring stability. As a company with more than 60 years’ experience in manufacturing, it believes the workforce in Newport has the skills and commitment to ensure a bright future.
Vishay Newport is one of the few semiconductor plants with the potential to grow. Working in partnership with the Welsh and UK Governments, Vishay wants to expand the site to enable new research and development and bring new technologies to market such as compound semiconductor power conversion; a more efficient technology than silicon-based semiconductors.
With a long-term expansion, which could unlock hundreds of millions of pounds of investment, Vishay Newport has the potential to help the semiconductor cluster develop as a global center of excellence. Vishay recently welcomed the Chancellor of the Exchequer to visit the plant, where a £250 million investment into compound semiconductor production was announced with support from the UK Government’s Automotive Transformation Fund.
Vishay sees an incredible opportunity to invest in the future of Newport and already works closely with universities across the UK, including the Centre for Integrative Semiconductor Materials at Swansea University. Having had a partnership to support PhD students in Swansea, and with some of those graduates now working at Vishay Newport, Vishay is keen to invest again, and recognizes the depth of STEM talent that exists in Wales.
Committed to being a good neighbour in Newport, Vishay is working closely with communities to ensure it operates in a socially responsible, ethical and sustainable manner. In everything it does, the company wants to protect the environment, and ensure the safety and health of its employees, customers, visitors and surrounding communities.
It is also a proud member of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA), the world’s largest industry coalition dedicated to corporate social responsibility in global supply chains. The company implements the RBA Code of Conduct; a set of social, environmental and ethical industry requirements derived from international standards including from the UN and the ILO.
The components Vishay manufactures at Vishay Newport have important applications for supporting the energy transition, by reducing energy loss and waste, and helping the UK to meet its Net Zero commitments.
After surviving persecution as a young man, Dr. Felix Zandman launched Vishay with a purpose: “Do not take advantage of others. What matters is how you treat the next person: it will come back to you. Be just and be helpful.” The team at Vishay today strives to live those values of integrity, openness and taking responsibility in everything they do.