One year on from the launch of the £1bn National Semiconductor Strategy, the UK government has now announced the UK Semiconductor Institute, which will bring together government, universities and the private sector to support key components laid out in the strategy to grow the UK’s semiconductor sector.

Over a trillion semiconductors are manufactured each year, and the global semiconductor market is forecast to reach $1tn by 2030, with these chips underpinning future technologies, such as AI, quantum and 6G.

Taiwan holds the lion’s share of global chip production, but its proximity to China has seen governments of some Western nations take a closer look at financing their own chipmaking plants and consider the cost to be worth bringing at least some production home.

For instance, in the US, the CHIPS Act has pledged almost $280bn to semiconductor-related investments by the end of 2026, including a bid to triple its domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity between 2022 and 2032.

The...