Arm Holdings PLC's chief executive officer urged the UK government to act fast to ensure its semi-conductor industry can beat off competition from the US and EU and attract the best talent.
The EU and the US are planning to pump billions into their semiconductor industries, the Times reported, with the EU aiming to secure 20% of global production by 2030 in order to increase its “digital autonomy”.
Meanwhile, two reviews being carried out in Britain have yet to publish their findings, the report said.
Arm CEO Rene Haas described microchips as “the lifeblood to everything we do” and said Britain has “fantastic strengths in design capability and in compound semiconductors and both are fairly critical to the overall global supply chain that goes into the electronic space. So I do think the UK has an opportunity there to do a bit more”.
Haas called for more R&D tax credits and greater support in bringing skilled workers into the UK, “things that make it easier for engineers to move across borders to be hired”.
“There’s only so much talent in the world that knows how to do this work. So making it easy for those folks to come into the UK to deliver the work would be hugely beneficial,” he said.
Haas suggested that the UK look at the design side of microchip production, where its excels, rather than manufacturing.
Arm makes processors that run on smartphones and its customers include Apple, Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics (KRX:005930). The company employs about 6,400 people globally, including 3,500 in the UK.