The British government has stopped funding the largest chipmaker in Britain that sold to a Chinese company.

After the sale of Newport Wafer Fab, the UK's largest chipmaker, to Chinese semiconductor maker Nexperia, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has stopped providing government funding to Newport Wafer Fab under a directive from the UK government.

Newport Wafer Fab had been involved in more than a dozen publicly funded projects before the sale to Nexperia (China), including a £520 million defense initiative using advanced semiconductor technology to support radar and satellite systems.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said during a parliamentary questioning on July 13 that his national security adviser, Stephen Lovegrove, would launch an investigation into the £63 million acquisition.

Newport Wafer Fab, located in Newport, South Wales, is the largest and one of the few semiconductor chip manufacturers in the United Kingdom.

Although headquartered in the Netherlands, Nexperia Semiconductor is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China's semiconductor giant, Wingtech Technology. (Reuters)