The UK government will provide taxpayer funding to support British semiconductor companies as part of a strategy to promote domestic chip manufacturing, and diversify supply, Bloomberg has reported, citing officials familiar with the plans. The support will include seed money for startups, help for existing firms to scale up and new incentives for private venture capital. Ministers will set up a semiconductor task force to coordinate public and private support to ramp up UK manufacturing of compound semiconductors in the next three years, the report continued.
Bloomberg says the funding will be provided through existing programs such as the British Business Bank, Innovate UK and the National Security Strategic Investment Fund.
The news outlet also recently reported that a UK government draft strategy urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to cut the UK‘s reliance on semiconductors from Taiwan because of the threat of Chinese invasion.
A government spokesperson refused to comment on the speculation, adding that the government’s semiconductor strategy would be published in due course.