are moving forward with plans to pump tens of billions of investment into boosting semiconductor design and fabrication facilities within their regions, the UK should play to its strengths and support the industry with market-led measures, a report by the think tank suggests.
In particular, the government has yet to publish its long-awaited semiconductor strategy. It also recently carried out a reshuffle that saw the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy , one of which – the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology – combines the science and technology functions from BEIS with the digital bits previously overseen by the current DCMS.
The report authors say the UK has a nascent semiconductor sector, but is not a major player in traditional silicon chips, and it is"extremely unlikely" that the UK government could nurture a home-grown champion to displace the likes of Taiwan's TSMC, or match that company's $36 billion in annual capital expenditure.
On tax and investment, the government should offer a bespoke R&D tax credit for companies operating within identified areas of opportunity for the UK, as well as establishing an Emerging Technologies Strategic Investment Fund to attract international capital to the UK's emerging technology industries.
The CPS also wants to see planning restrictions relaxed so that national development policies affecting laboratory and industrial development should override local plans, which sounds like a real vote winner to us. The only exceptions are the suggested tax measures, which could be implemented via the usual budget processes, all of which mean that the government should be able to act immediately to adopt nearly all of these proposals, the report claims, adding"We encourage them to do so."