Workshop held on the UK Semiconductor Infrastructure Initiative – 14th July 2023
Following the UK Semiconductor Infrastructure Initiative briefing at the UK Semiconductors Conference, a workshop was held on Friday 14th July at Sheffield Hallam University with industry and academia to validate the results from the recent survey identifying existing UK semiconductor capabilities, user needs, and areas of competitive advantage.
The workshop was commissioned by DSIT as a result of the National Semiconductor Strategy, and organised by IfM Engage. We were pleased to support the event, which immediately followed the UK Semiconductors Conference. The objectives of the workshop were two-fold:
1) To evaluate the UK’s semiconductor capability in terms of the following metrics:
- Economic value (in terms of GVA)
- Strategic importance (securing access to markets beyond the immediate investable future, typically 3-5 years)
- National security (technology essential to maintaining critical national infrastructure) four key capabilities under evaluation were:
2) To assess where the specific focus of that investment should be (based on user needs), and the potential impact of government infrastructure investment on the above metrics. There were four key capabilities under evaluation:
- Silicon prototyping and low volume piloting
- Advanced packaging
- Compound semiconductor open-access foundry
- Access to EDA tools and design IP
We were particularly delighted to see a huge turnout and interest in the III-V compound semiconductor open-access foundry, and that the discussions included the workforce and skills required for its successful implementation.