By Jess Jones
The government’s Semiconductor Advisory Panel (SAP) announcement is almost a month late, leaving chip experts questioning the effectiveness of the national semiconductor strategy.
In the national semiconductor strategy, published in May, the government said it will “formally launch the advisory panel at London Tech Week in June 2023 as part of our drive to promote the sector as a cornerstone of the digital economy”.
It is now three weeks on from London Tech Week and there have been no updates.
“We should all ask ourselves how we ought to regard government pledges, given this lack of delivery at an early hurdle,” said Dr Simon Thomas, co-founder and CEO of graphene-based semiconductor company Paragraf.
“The government’s semiconductor strategy has thus far done little for scaling UK semiconductor manufacturing businesses other than deliver promises of what we ought to wait for, the first of which was the UK government Semiconductor Advisory Panel,” he said.
Thomas emphasised that the issue at hand is not financial support, but rather attracting and retaining talent, developing infrastructure, ensuring competitive utilities and protecting domestic core intellectual property.
It is about “not combating – but harmonising – with the strategies some of our most vital trading nations have put forward in advance of Westminster’s disappointing contribution”, Thomas said, adding that the dialogue coming from other nations is “grossly dwarfing” the UK’s.
Earlier this week, Paragraf outlined a ‘seven-point plan for semiconductor success’, the crux of which highlighted how delivery and policy – not monetary – concerns are key to the UK’s triumph in the chip sector.
Andrew Thompson, partner at leading intellectual property law firm EIP, said “despite the huge build up to the strategy, and the prominent launch, the industry doesn’t really know what it means yet.”
He explained that key initiatives lack detail or have been deferred, such as the Infrastructure Initiative, which is currently in a consultation phase until autumn.
One of the main aims of the Infrastructure Initiative is to improve access for companies to design and test semiconductor chips effectively.
“The industry is really still in ‘wait-and-see’ mode, until the government offers more on implementation,” Thompson added.
In May, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) published the long-awaited national semiconductor strategy, which sets out the UK’s 20-year vision to grow the industry, while increasing the UK’s self-sufficiency and national security.
The government also pledged £200m of funding to the chip sector over the next two years.
DSIT were approached for comment.
