While it calls the strategy ‘an important initiative to boost this strategically important sector’ it also urges the Government to work more closely with industry in defining a set of policies which will help to build a long-term sustainable and successful ecosystem across each element of the value chain from research, innovation and design to product engineering, manufacturing and end-market consumption.
The paper discusses a number of possible support measures and highlights key issues which need to be addressed if the UK is to achieve its true potential and goes on to highlight the fact that while there are hundreds of companies engaged in the semiconductor sector, many UK businesses really do need help to compete on the global stage.
According to Sturman while the group, which was set up at the request of industry to enable cross-sector debate and discussion and to present a unified voice, welcomed the government's attention to the semiconductor industry its focus on early-stage innovation, design and IP creation only addressed a subset of the industry.
More support is still required to grow a vibrant ecosystem with a critical mass of UK know-how, talent and cross-industry collaboration, according to Sturman.
The paper says that no country has built a semiconductor sector of any strength without Government support and that the UK has a unique opportunity to build a semiconductor industry which competes on a global scale and delivers real value to the UK economy.
This requires, “ongoing discussion between industry and government and a long-term view of how to achieve our goals.”
We await another report, this time from the National Semiconductor Infrastructure Initiative that will look at the potential of British chip firms in several key areas including silicon prototyping, advanced packaging, compound semiconductors and design IP, and it will report in the autumn with plans on how to best focus future manufacturing investment.
Report after report, but will the Government actual deliver?
Sadly, it doesn’t have a great track record…..on pretty much anything!
To find out more about the Techworks Semiconductor Leadership Group and download the paper please visit he link below.
