“This facility is the only secure site in the UK capable of manufacturing gallium arsenide semiconductors, a vital component in military platforms such as fighter jets.”
Coherent announced over 100 job cuts at Newton Aycliffe in 2023, and now the government owns the plant and calls it Octric Semiconductors UK. The announcement gives no purchase price. Britain let its only secure gallium arsenide fab pass through owner after owner since 1991 and noticed only when the last one tried to walk away.