Diodes has received £13.7m in funding from Scottish Enterprise towards a £47m project enabling its future growth in Greenock, first minister Nicola Sturgeon announced.

Diodes acquired the former Texas Instruments business in the town in April 2019, safeguarding all 300 jobs on site, in a deal facilitated by Scottish Development International (SDI), the Scottish government and Inverclyde Council.scottish enterprise

The company says significant progress has been achieved since, with substantial capital expenditure approved, tools installed and the first new products shipped for qualification.

The funding package consists of a £12m research and development (R&D) grant towards a five-year project for the development of transistors and £1.7m towards a £3.4m training programme to enable employees to support this change.

The company has also received £169,500 from Inverclyde Council to assist with development of the site.

The site has room to expand in development, manufacturing and test and “most importantly – an efficient and highly-skilled workforce of engineers, operators and support staff”.

The first minister said: “Almost £14 million from Scottish Enterprise will help Diodes advance their research, develop new processes and products and make their systems more efficient and effective.”

Tim Monaghan, Diodes’ European president said: “We were very pleased to welcome the first minister to GFAB and to show her the advances that have been made since Diodes’ acquisition of the plant. GFAB has a long-standing and highly valued relationship with Scottish Enterprise and we look forward to this continuing.

“With Diodes’ expertise, the high calibre of the GFAB workforce, and support from Scottish Enterprise, I am excited by the opportunity we are creating to progress even further, building on our manufacturing capabilities to create a centre of process development excellence in GFAB.”

Steve Dunlop, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, said: “Following the positive announcement earlier this year that Diodes had acquired the business safeguarding these 300 jobs in Greenock, it’s great to see the company now planning for its long-term future in the town.