Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the National Semiconductor Strategy, published 19 May 2023, whether she plans to increase the availability of scaleup funding programs to assist the commercialisation of semiconductor businesses.

Through the National Semiconductor Strategy the government announced an investment of up to £200 million over the years 2023-25 and up to £1 billion in the next decade.

This builds upon significant support for high-tech enterprise including a £500 million per year package of support for R&D intensive businesses through changes to R&D tax credits announced in the Spring Budget, and through ‘full expensing’ for companies incurring qualifying expenditure on the provision of new plant and machinery.

In addition, over the past 10 years alone, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has invested £539 million into semiconductor related research. And through InnovateUK, we have distributed £214 million of grants over the last 10 years directly to SMEs in the semiconductor sector.

The Government has also supported over 450 PhD students since 2017 to begin semiconductor related research and we currently have 7 active Centres for Doctoral Training. We will continue to provide support for these Centres to help produce the next generation of internationally recognised doctoral researchers.

To aid commercialisation we will pilot a new UK incubator programme in 2023 to support new semiconductor start-ups in the UK to grow and thrive. This programme will aim to lower the barriers to growth for new companies in the sector, by providing access to design tools and prototyping, business coaching and improve access to private finance.

We will also announce plans by the autumn to further support the competitiveness of the UK’s semiconductor manufacturing sector.