“We want to be this technology centre like Silicon Valley, where we can attract whatever the big names of tomorrow are,” said Chris Meadows, corporate systems manager at British firm IQE.IQE is one of a small group of local companies, also including SPTS or Newport Wafer Fab, which have formed an alliance with universities to create a compound semiconductor “cluster” in south Wales.
They are more complex and more expensive than silicon chips, but are more suitable for electric vehicles, laser devices or 5G telephony. “Our know-how, our edge comes from that particular way of working out and assembling wafers. It’s our secret recipe.” But now “it’s more about machinery and intellectual property” – and that brings high-skilled, well-paid jobs to a region that has suffered industrial decline.
“We currently have three companies that we’re working with, two in North America and one in China... they’ll be assembling the electronic products using chips made within the cluster,” Meadows said.