The UK government has unveiled a support package of up to £1bn for the semiconductor industry which has been called "very small" compared to the billions being offered by US and European schemes for technology and renewable energy sectors.
Investment for chip-making companies will be provided by the government under the National Semiconductor Strategy over the next decade, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said.
With almost all current technology built on semiconductors, and forming a crucial part of leading-edge technology in telecoms, automobiles, artificial intelligence and quantum computing, the industry is poised to swell to a US$1tn market by 2030.
As such, the government aims to boost the UK’s "strengths and skills in design, R&D and compound semiconductors, while helping to grow domestic chip firms across the UK".
But the chair of the House of Commons Business Select Committee, Darren Jones, told media the initial £250mln "is a very small amount of subsidy compared to other countries" and Dr Simon Thomas, chief executive of UK-based semiconductor start-up Paragraf, told the BBC the amount was "a long way from addressing the needs of UK chipmakers".
This month there have been reports that the government is also planning to set up a multi-billion pound investment fund to halt the drain of tech companies overseas, with the Future Growth Fund aiming to pull in £50bn from UK pension funds to invest in fast-growing technology and biotech firms.
UK-listed semiconductor companies include silicon chip wafer-maker IQE PLC (AIM:IQE), which in March announced its second profit warning in three months and in the past week raised £30mln to restore its balance sheet and execute on its ambitious strategy.
Semiconductor pioneer ARM recently decided to list in New York rather than London, which has apparently prompted rising star Pragmatic Semiconductor to consider a listing abroad too.