It reminds me of how this backwards way of thinking seems to have infested everyone's heads; that stuff has to be, or make use of, the very latest technology available, or it will be useless junk that barely works.
There was a lot of that talk about the Newport Wafer Fab being sold to China. I remember it produces in-demand automotive stuff, but not the process size(s), if that's even relevant with the different technology. Shame I can't find anything about it on http://youknowsit.co.uk/ innit.