It’s no secret that the semiconductor industry changed dramatically in the aftermath of the pandemic. The scarcity of these basic parts for all kinds of technological devices, from video game consoles to cars, brought to light the strong dependency that exists from Asian factories. In addition, he put on the table the risks that can arise from failures at different stages of the supply chain.
Faced with this scenario, the main Western economies took out their checkbooks to attract private players and boost the semiconductor industry within their borders. The United States announced that it would allocate 52,000 million dollars for this purpose and the European Union did the same, in this case with 43,000 million euros (about 46,000 million dollars). The United Kingdom, for its part, has not wanted to be left behind.
The United Kingdom is also committed to the chip industry
The UK Government presented its own strategy on Friday to “double down the design, research and advanced chip leadership”. These guidelines, according to the official statementThey seek to secure the island nation’s “world superpower” position in science and technology. His ambition, however, although he has only been on stage for a few hours, has already received criticism from various sectors. Let’s see.
The National Semiconductor Strategy has established an investment of up to 1,000 million pounds sterling (about 1,200 million dollars) over ten years to strengthen the British chip industry. This movement will turn in tone to further boost the strengths and skills acquired by the United Kingdom in the aforementioned sector. Considering the numbers, this investment is substantially lower than that of other countries.
According to BloombergDarren Jones MP from the Labor Party, who took part in a legislative inquiry into the nation’s role in the chip industry, described the initiative as “small”. Her colleague Lucy Powell from the same opposition party said she was “disappointed” by the scale of the ambition, saying it could hurt Britain’s growth and national security.
Criticism arose not only from lawmakers opposed to the Conservative party led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, but also from some private actors. Simon Thomas, the founder of a British chip company called Paragraf Ltd., told the aforementioned media outlet that the initiative “falls a long way from addressing the needs of UK chipmakers.”
It is time to wait to find out the true scope of the new National Semiconductor Strategy and if the promised investment will serve to make a difference in a million-dollar and increasingly competitive industry. To give you an idea, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest chipmaker, has an annual budget of 32,000 million dollars. In other words, it spends every two weeks what the UK will dole out in a decade.
Images: LN | Maxim Hopman
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