Semiconductor Strategy Publication

Monday 22nd May 2023 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (Paul Scully)]

I am repeating the following written ministerial statement made on 19 May in the other place by my noble Friend, the Minister for AI and Intellectual Property, Viscount Camrose:

Since the new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology was created, we have been clear on its mission to make the UK a science and technology superpower.

Today we are taking further decisive steps towards that objective through the publication of our National Semiconductor Strategy.

This strategy demonstrates how fundamental technology is to the UK and the exciting opportunities it presents. We will build on the UK’s deep foundations and core strengths in semiconductor technology, as part of our commitment to become one of the most innovative economies in the world.

Semiconductors are one of the five technologies of tomorrow, along with quantum, AI, engineering biology and future telecoms. They are critical to the UK’s economic and national security and to the strategic advantage we will secure on the global stage.

Semiconductors underpin our ambitions elsewhere: to lead the way on artificial intelligence, to enable advances in quantum computing and telecommunications, to power high performance computing, and to facilitate progress towards net zero and in life sciences. Advances in all of these areas will bring tangible benefits to the lives of the British people, whether that is using quantum computers to discover new life-saving drugs, or high performance computing to more accurately predict the weather. All of this will rely on semiconductors.

But we are clear-eyed about the risks given that semiconductors are fundamental to so many technologies—from ventilators to fighter jets—and their supply chains are vulnerable. Meanwhile, hostile states can seek to acquire semiconductor technical advantage to the detriment of our national security. And a compromise to the cyber security of the hardware behind every device powering modern life is not acceptable.

The semiconductor industry exists in a fiercely competitive global landscape. A number of countries are spending vast sums on their own industries, from the US to the EU to China. The costs are colossal; a single new, advanced fabrication facility can cost £10 billion. That is roughly the cost of 20 new hospitals.

The UK has enormous strengths in the sector: in compound semiconductors, in R&D, and in IP and chip design. Our approach, informed by and delivered hand in hand with industry, is to focus on those strengths and to take them even further.

Our vision is that over the next 20 years, the UK will secure world leading positions in the new semiconductor technologies of the future by focusing on these fundamental strengths. We will foster new discoveries and technological innovation. We will bolster our international position to improve supply chain resilience and protect our security. And we will grow the UK’s sector, tapping a market of huge potential.

This is why we are launching the UK Semiconductor Infrastructure Initiative and investing up to £200 million into our semiconductor sector over the years 2022-25, and up to £1 billion, over the next 10 years. This is also why we are launching a new UK Semiconductor Advisory Panel, to ensure that Government, academia and industry are all working together to deliver on the priorities set out in this strategy.

Our strategy represents the culmination of what Government, industry and academia have already done in this sector. And it sets our vision for its future. It is rightly differentiated from the approaches other countries are taking to build large-scale silicon manufacturing capabilities, instead focusing on what is right for the UK. A wealth of exciting opportunities lie ahead: to grow the economy, to create highly skilled jobs, and to be at the cutting-edge of technology that revolutionises every aspect of modern life.

I will be placing copies of the strategy in the Libraries of both Houses, and it will also be made available on www.gov.uk.

[HCWS787]