The increase in funding comes as the UK has joined the EU’s ‘Chips Joint Undertaking’ project, which was launched by the European Commission in November 2023.
Horizon Europe is the EU's key funding programme for research and innovation. Joining the Chips Joint Undertaking means UK businesses will have enhanced access to €1.3 billion pot of funds set aside by Horizon Europe to support research in semiconductor technologies up to 2027.
Access to one of the Chips Joint Undertaking’s funds is being backed by an initial £5 million this year from the UK's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
An additional £30 million is due to support UK participation in further research between 2025 and 2027.
“Our membership of the Chips Joint Undertaking will boost Britain’s strengths in semiconductor science and research to secure our position in the global chip supply chain,” said the UK’s technology minister, Saqib Bhatti at a conference of global semiconductor leaders in London.
“This underscores our unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of technology and cements our important role in shaping the future of semiconductor technologies around the world,” he added.
“Semiconductors are the backbone of all digital technologies, and this investment should significantly bolster Britain’s leadership in cutting-edge chip design and innovation,” Ben Langstreth, open technology/infrastructure specialist at Vesper Technologies, told Capacity.
Vesper Technologies is a UK company that specialises in the design, configuration, delivery and support of open, high-performance data centre infrastructure.
Langstreth praised the decision by the government, saying that it serves as a strong indication of the government's commitment to securing long-term growth in the tech sector.
“By pushing the boundaries of semiconductor research, we can expect advancements that will directly benefit data centre operations, enhancing their ability to manage diverse workloads such as AI and potentially future technologies such as quantum computing,” he said.
As a participating state in the undertaking, the UK will have a role in setting research priorities and funding decisions as the fund evolves in the years ahead.
British research has led global efforts in fields like silicon photonics, which creates faster chips by using light instead of electricity, and compound semiconductors, which enable improved performance over silicon in key applications that can be applied to telecoms such as radiofrequency communications.
