The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) commissioned a research project to look into the feasibility of new national initiatives to bring the UK semiconductor industry together to tackle shared challenges and help businesses scale up.
It will look at whether better access to prototyping and manufacturing facilities for chip firms is needed to tackle barriers to innovation and grow the industry. It will also cover opportunities to make specialist software tools more available for start-ups and ways to develop cutting-edge packaging processes, The UK semiconductor industry has expanded rapidly over the last decade, with global revenue increasing by 95% between 2012 and 2021, says the DCMS.
The study will consider how to improve infrastructure in five key areas: industry coordination, silicon prototyping, open-access manufacturing for compound semiconductors, advanced packaging and intellectual property.
The results will inform how the government could deliver on some of the ambitions set out in the forthcoming semiconductor strategy, which will be published as soon as possible and is not dependent on the completion of the feasibility study.
The proposed initiative is one of many options under consideration and does not represent the full breadth of the strategy.
The study will set out the delivery model a national initiative could take to have the most positive impact on the industry, including whether or not the different infrastructure capabilities are centralised in one organisation.
The invitation to tender for this research is live on The Crown Commercial Service. The budget available for this contract is £700,000 – £900,000 excluding VAT.
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