The UK government has approved the sale of Plessey Semiconductors, a century-old British microchip maker, to London-based Haylo Labs in a deal backed by Chinese funding, according to The Times UK.
The acquisition is being financed by a loan of up to $100 million from Goertek, a Shenzhen-listed technology giant, via its Hong Kong subsidiary. Under the agreement, Goertek will also become Plessey’s exclusive manufacturing partner outside the UK, with high-volume production expected to be located in China and Singapore.
Plessey, founded in 1917 and employing 270 people, is best known today for its partnership with Meta, supplying cutting-edge micro-LED displays for augmented reality devices. Despite concerns over Chinese involvement in Britain’s semiconductor sector, the deal passed mandatory national security checks. Legal experts noted that Goertek is a lender rather than a shareholder, meaning it has no direct control over Plessey under current law.
Still, the move is likely to spark debate, coming just two years after the government forced the Chinese-owned Newport Wafer Fab to be sold under similar security legislation. Relations with China remain highly sensitive in the semiconductor industry, a sector at the core of US-China technological rivalry.
David Hayes, Haylo’s chief executive and a veteran of display technology ventures, said the company planned to double Plessey’s workforce and capacity. “Our target customers are every major global consumer of wearable products,” he said, pledging to reinvest profits to build a multibillion-dollar UK leader in micro-LED technology.
