Newport Really is at the Heart of the New Industrial Revolution

Out and about on the doorstep across Newport East, I often find myself in conversations with residents about jobs and the local economy.

Often, they cite the days of heavy industry, lamenting the perceived loss of traditional industries (record investment in the Port and world-class automotive steel finishing at Llanwern contradict this to a degree), and fears of what lies ahead for the city, their kids and grandchildren.

It's at this point I’ll usually share the huge success story of Newport’s tech industries, all powered by the rise of AI and a societal dependence on tech. I usually start by outlining the companies and operations opening in the city and often, I’m met with surprise (for surprise, read disbelief).

And I can understand why. Lots of these businesses are tucked away on the outskirts of the city or on former industrial land, out of sight.

Those of us who work in this field hear about semiconductors, data centres, battery storage, fabs and chips every day. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it has become a second language, but I discuss Newport’s new industries often with colleagues and friends through the course of my work. Even then, when I hear names like Microsoft in relation to Newport, or investment figures running into the hundreds of millions and even billions, I still have to remind myself that it is real. So, it’s no wonder residents are sometimes surprised, and often disbelieving, when I talk about it in person and, of course, on social media. It just seems unreal.

I have written about and spoken in Parliament on the topic of Newport’s place in the new industrial revolution.

The claim is sometimes met with scepticism, but it is not an exaggeration.

The new economy: those industries moving at pace and hungry for land, facilities, renewables, talent and innovation, all of which we have here in Newport. All of this investment is bringing highly skilled, well-paid jobs to the city, with opportunities for young people and career movers.

In January, with my colleague Ruth Jones MP, I visited KLA’s brand new R&D and Manufacturing site at Celtic Springs. It represents a major investment of more than £100 million, employs more than 700 people, and works at the cutting edge of global tech, producing the equipment that makes semiconductors.

And here’s the first of those unfamiliar words – semiconductors. Why should anyone know or care about whatever these are? Well, simply because everyone, regardless of tech knowledge uses them or uses something every single day that require them.

An electric car for example, contains more than 8,000 of them. Airbag sensors to cruise control, collision avoidance, navigation, security and even self-parking, to name a few, are all enabled by semiconductors. The next generation electric and autonomous vehicles will rely on around three times that – and this technology is invisible to the naked eye, measured at the nanometre scale.

The SPTS Division of KLA has been in Newport East since the 1982, yet the technology developed there is more like you’d expect to see coming out of Silicon Valley than South Wales.

Features on your smartphone, such as facial recognition, are made possible by innovations made here in Newport.

And it is not just KLA – there are multiple semiconductor companies in Newport and the south-east than help enable the technology we use every day, including  Vishay, IQE, Kubos, Spaceforge, Microchip and MicroLink.

These companies employ nearly 2,000 people in high value, high technology jobs, but they also have extensive supply chains, with many of those suppliers also calling Newport home.

But it is more than the everyday stuff. In his book Chip War, Chris Miller points out that “most of the world’s GDP is produced with devices that rely on semiconductors”.

Considering these things didn’t exist before 1950, that’s a speedy ascent.

It was during that visit that the scale of what is happening in Newport truly hit home. Newport’s tech industry is genuinely that important.

Microsoft is currently building a state-of-the-art AI data centre in the city. This 1.1 million square foot building is designed to be a sustainable, high-tech facility focusing on energy efficiency. This brand-new data centre in Newport represents the height of technology – technology that has become integral to our lives, enabling social media, video streaming, contactless payments, remote working and so much more.

And there’s another “new term” – data centres are most simply described as enormous computers storing the information that sits behind your phone, your laptop and “the cloud”.

These buildings are generating construction jobs the length and breadth of the country. As part of the South Wales AI Growth Zone and the globally significant semiconductor cluster, Newport is at the heart of that growth.

Alongside Microsoft’s new facility, Vantage already operates its largest European data centre here, and the company plans to invest £10 billion in a wider data centre hub centred around the city.

Just this month I met another company in the final stages of planning a data centre here in Newport – one powered by renewables, more abundant innovation in Newport. They are talking about a huge investment in the city, using a site previously occupied by traditional industries. They are partnering with the biggest of the “Magnificent Seven” (the umbrella name for the biggest tech giants in the world) to deliver it, with a firm focus on community benefits.

More on that another time, though.

And these are just the tip of the iceberg. I am often told that other tech giants are interested in taking space on former heavy industry sites. Companies already here are eyeing expansion in the city, creating more skilled, well paid jobs that will boost the local economy and offer excellent prospects for our children and grandchildren.

It is quite a lot to take in, isn’t it? And I haven’t even brought AI into the conversation, which is what is driving all of this.

All the talk of nanometres, billions of pounds and global significance can feel far removed from everyday life, so I get why it all seems so unreal.

So how do we communicate all of this to residents who do not need, or necessarily want, all the detail? How do we communicate that even though these industries do not take up vast amounts of space, they are worth tens of billions of pounds and are essential to the global economy?

How do we reassure people that things are good, they’re on the up and the jobs and opportunities are here and growing without sounding like it’s all a work of science fiction? And how do we do all this while also continuing to promote the existing traditional industries that continue to thrive and employ many people in the city?

That is something many of us across the city will be puzzling over for years to come as these industries grow and expand, especially with the pace the AI and data sectors are moving at. But for now, the headline is clear. This huge leap into new technologies, one that Newport sits right at the front of, is good for our city, for our residents and for our economy.

And who can argue with that?