The Full-Stack Opportunity: Reimagining Britain's Semiconductor Strategy
Semiconductor innovation leadership is a national strategic priority, with recommendations to rapidly scale investment landing on the desks of the most influential officeholders and company boardrooms.
At least, that’s the case in the United States.
Here in the UK? There’s an enormous opportunity if the country recognises we’re at a crossroads and picks the right path forward.
Britain has long punched above its weight in research and design, but hasn’t always managed to translate this lead into commercial outcomes. Now we must match that scientific ambition with industrial ambition, energy infrastructure development and manufacturing prowess.
The easy route is to double down on our existing strengths in chip design. But design leadership alone doesn’t constitute semiconductor strength, and the UK should pick the harder path and build out full-stack capabilities.
This is increasingly urgent. The global semiconductor landscape is being reshaped by technological, geopolitical and market forces. The end of Moore's Law, the rise of AI and the instability of global supply chains can either entrench the lead of existing players or create space for new entrants and new approaches.
For the UK, this offers a rare chance to carve out a greater role. The prospect of competing with the massive manufacturing infrastructure of Taiwan and South Korea may seem an audacious goal, requiring greater investment and political will than the UK could hope to have. But over time, I believe it’s more than possible to pursue this goal without requiring government largesse. We need the right policies in place to make it easier to hire, fire and build here: encouraging highly skilled immigration, ending non-competes that slow down job switches, and looking again at the labour laws and taxes that dampen growth. Matching the UK’s design strengths with stronger manufacturing capabilities would speed up innovation, mitigate supply chain bottlenecks and open up a meaningful seat at the table.
Building the future
The future of computing won't be won by modest tweaks to existing paradigms. It will be won by those with the vision to reimagine what computing can be, and the industrial capability needed to bring that vision to life.
If the UK can’t build out a full semiconductor stack, from design to manufacturing and deployment, it risks being forever the supporting actor in the global technology drama.
TechUK’s ‘UK Plan for Chips’ was a strong first step towards identifying the highest priorities and rightly calls for more support for applied R&D and manufacturing, alongside retaining the UK’s current pace of progress on chip design IP.
Policymakers shouldn’t just evaluate the opportunity from an economic standpoint. It’s a question of sovereign capability, national security, and technological independence in a fractured world. Without the full stack, UK innovations will remain dependent on other nations’ infrastructure, or languish as theoretical.
The Full-Stack Imperative
The UK shouldn't settle for merely contributing intellectual property to the global supply chain. It must develop its own vertically integrated capabilities that span:
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Novel compute architectures: Near-zero energy chips, neuromorphic computing, and other post-Moore's Law technologies where established players have less advantage
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EDA tooling: right now there is a small number of incumbents in the chip design space, which is set to be completely revolutionized by AI. New challengers will be able to disrupt this market
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Specialised manufacturing: Focused on producing next-generation semiconductor technologies at industrial scale
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Application-specific development: Creating complete solutions for strategic industries like AI and advanced sensing
High-Performance Computing Requires High-Performance Infrastructure
Any serious discussion about the UK's semiconductor future must also address energy infrastructure. The compute needs of AI and advanced chip manufacturing all share a common requirement: reliable, abundant, clean power.
The deployment of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) isn't a separate policy consideration but an equal necessity. Data centres are drawing ever greater amounts of global electricity, and without a substantial increase in energy production capacity, ambitions for UK leadership in high-performance computing or semiconductor manufacturing can’t succeed. The two strands are inextricably linked: our competitiveness in one directly depends on our competitiveness in the other. Companies and data centres need their own SMRs, funded by the private sector, and they need approvals to happen quickly.
The long wait
I write this having just completed the first tapeout of the startup I co-founded with Dr Hannah Earley, Vaire Computing. Our goal is to build ‘near-zero energy chips’ that can deliver the future of compute, reusing energy rather than wasting it all as heat as classical chips do, driving up unsustainable energy consumption and throttling performance. The first results show the resonator component of the test chip could reuse 50% of its energy, a first significant step towards making this a reality.
We can’t wait to get the chip in our hands here in our London HQ. And it’s been a long wait, as our parcel is still making its way through global customs checks from our partner foundry… This is just one tiny example of why domestic semiconductor manufacturing is a vital step forward, and can truly accelerate the future.
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Rory joined techUK in June 2023 after three years in the Civil Service on its Fast Stream leadership development programme.
During this time, Rory worked on the Government's response to Covid-19 (NHS Test & Trace), school funding strategy (Department for Education) and international climate and nature policy (Cabinet Office). He also tackled the social care crisis whilst on secondment to techUK's Health and Social Care programme in 2022.
Before this, Rory worked in the House of Commons and House of Lords alongside completing degrees in Political Economy and Global Politics.
Today, Rory leads techUK's emerging technologies activity across everything from immersive, web3, AI and robotics to space, gaming & metaverse.
This involves co-running techUK's flagship Innovation campaign, managing four series (including the 'Meet the Innovators' interview series), and launching 4-6-month 'sprint campaigns' on transformative technologies and sectors.
- Email:
- [email protected]
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- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rorydaniels28/
Running from January to May 2024, this sprint campaign explored how the UK can lead on the development, application and commercialisation of the technologies set to underpin the Gaming & Esports sector of the future.
These include AI, augmented / virtual / mixed / extended reality, haptics, cloud & edge computing, semiconductors, and advanced connectivity (5/6G).
Activity took the form of roundtables, panel discussions, networking sessions, Summits, and thought leadership pieces. A report featuring member case studies and policy recommendations was launched at The National Videogame Museum in November 2024.
Get in touch below to find out more about techUK's future plans in this space.
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Rory Daniels
Rory Daniels
Rory joined techUK in June 2023 after three years in the Civil Service on its Fast Stream leadership development programme.
During this time, Rory worked on the Government's response to Covid-19 (NHS Test & Trace), school funding strategy (Department for Education) and international climate and nature policy (Cabinet Office). He also tackled the social care crisis whilst on secondment to techUK's Health and Social Care programme in 2022.
Before this, Rory worked in the House of Commons and House of Lords alongside completing degrees in Political Economy and Global Politics.
Today, Rory leads techUK's emerging technologies activity across everything from immersive, web3, AI and robotics to space, gaming & metaverse.
This involves co-running techUK's flagship Innovation campaign, managing four series (including the 'Meet the Innovators' interview series), and launching 4-6-month 'sprint campaigns' on transformative technologies and sectors.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rorydaniels28/
Running from July to December 2024, this sprint campaign explored how the UK can lead on the development, application and commercialisation of web3 and immersive technologies.
These include blockchain, smart contracts, digital assets, augmented / virtual / mixed / extended reality, spatial computing, haptics and holograms.
Activity took the form of roundtables, workshops, panel discussions, networking sessions, tech demos, Summits, thought leadership pieces, policy recommendations, and a report (to be launched in 2025).
Get in touch below to find out more about techUK's future plans in this space.
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Get in touch
Rory Daniels
Rory Daniels
Rory joined techUK in June 2023 after three years in the Civil Service on its Fast Stream leadership development programme.
During this time, Rory worked on the Government's response to Covid-19 (NHS Test & Trace), school funding strategy (Department for Education) and international climate and nature policy (Cabinet Office). He also tackled the social care crisis whilst on secondment to techUK's Health and Social Care programme in 2022.
Before this, Rory worked in the House of Commons and House of Lords alongside completing degrees in Political Economy and Global Politics.
Today, Rory leads techUK's emerging technologies activity across everything from immersive, web3, AI and robotics to space, gaming & metaverse.
This involves co-running techUK's flagship Innovation campaign, managing four series (including the 'Meet the Innovators' interview series), and launching 4-6-month 'sprint campaigns' on transformative technologies and sectors.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rorydaniels28/
Running from February to June 2025, this sprint campaign is exploring how the UK can lead on the development, application and commercialisation of robotic & automation technologies.
These include autonomous vehicles, drones, humanoids, and applications across industry & manufacturing, defence, transport & mobility, logistics, and more.
Activity is taking the form of roundtables, workshops, panel discussions, networking sessions, tech demos, Summits, thought leadership pieces, policy recommendations, and a report (to be launched in Q4 2025).
Get in touch below to get involved or find out more about techUK's future plans in this space.
Upcoming events
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Get in touch
Rory Daniels
Rory Daniels
Rory joined techUK in June 2023 after three years in the Civil Service on its Fast Stream leadership development programme.
During this time, Rory worked on the Government's response to Covid-19 (NHS Test & Trace), school funding strategy (Department for Education) and international climate and nature policy (Cabinet Office). He also tackled the social care crisis whilst on secondment to techUK's Health and Social Care programme in 2022.
Before this, Rory worked in the House of Commons and House of Lords alongside completing degrees in Political Economy and Global Politics.
Today, Rory leads techUK's emerging technologies activity across everything from immersive, web3, AI and robotics to space, gaming & metaverse.
This involves co-running techUK's flagship Innovation campaign, managing four series (including the 'Meet the Innovators' interview series), and launching 4-6-month 'sprint campaigns' on transformative technologies and sectors.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rorydaniels28/
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