Pure Wafer, a silicon wafer reclamation start-up company launched today, has announced plans to invest £34m in establishing its headquarters and a factory in Swansea.
The company has received £4.5m in grant aid from the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Development Agency (WDA) to develop the 4,459 sq m (48,000 sq ft) plant on a 12.3ha (five-acre) site in Swansea Vale. The plant will create 110 jobs and will be in full production by August of this year.
Pure Wafer has secured £34m in venture capital funding from Apax Partners Fund and a consortium of banks including the Bank of Wales and IBM Global Financing.
Launching the company, National Assembly First Minister Rhodri Morgan, said: “I am delighted Pure Wafer has chosen to set up in Swansea where we’re seeing the development of a cluster of highly innovative companies in the semi-conductor sector. This is further confirmation that the M4 belt from Heathrow Airport to Swansea is Europe’s leading concentration of electronic design and semi-conductor process expertise.”
EGi News 10/01/01
