HOPES of creating hundreds of jobs in the former LG Semiconductor factory at Newport have been boosted by news the plant is getting new owners.

The city was waiting this morning for information on what is now planned for the factory at Imperial Park, Duffryn.

It was supposed to share in the 6,000-jobs bonanza with sister factory LG Electronics when the South Korean company arrived in Gwent a few years ago. But LG never produced a single microchip there - and sold it to Hyundai following a slump in the world semi-conductor market and a recession in the Far East economy. Hyundai - now the debt-ridden Hynix - never went into production either.

But Hynix's assets are about to be acquired by American firm Micron Technology for around £3 billion, though reports in the Washington Post quote only Hynix's production lines as being involved in the deal.

If the sale does include the old LG Semicon factory, it could mean production and jobs in Newport.

Deputy economic development minister John Griffiths said last night: "It's been awful to see that purpose-built factory lying idle. If we can get it up and running, it could provide a substantial number of jobs."

The Assembly offered cash inducements for LG to come to Gwent but a spokeswoman said last week that the amount taken up was based on the actual, not theoretical, number of jobs created.

Micron and Hynix have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) - or holding agreement - under which Micron would pay creditors for Hynix assets.

Whether Micron would intend producing at Newport or offering the factory as a commercial property for selling on is not known

Microchip makers worldwide are recovering from a record fall in prices in 2001 because of a slump in world demand. The company, with three operations in the UK, is one of the leading worldwide providers of semiconductor memory solutions, serving computer and computer-peripheral industries.

Hynix lost a record £3.89 billion last year, forcing creditors to rescue it twice and prompting it to open alliance talks with Micron in December.

LG remains at Newport as LG Philips in the original LG Electronics plant, on the same site as the empty building, employing 2,300 who make cathode ray tubes for TVs.