Asat UK, the UK arm of QPL International Holdings Ltd, the Hong Kong chipmaker that bought the Inmos Ltd plant in Newport, Gwent, is to invest another UKP42m in a new plant in Wales, creating an expected 1,000 jobs. The plant will be built near Crumlin, also in Gwent. Asat plans to base its European headquarters at the plant which will assemble and test integrated circuits from Newport. Construction is to start in late summer with the first production 12 months later. The aim is to offer European and US East Coast customers with a one stop shop for wafer fabrication and chip testing.
