Proposed national innovation mission
Semiconductors, Photonics & Advanced Connectivity
Hold and extend the parts of the semiconductor and photonics value chain where Britain is genuinely competitive
Proposed by UKIZ · independent · not a government designation
Current hypothesis
Current UKIZ intervention hypothesis
UKIZ has not yet published a hypothesis for this mission.
Where the capability is
A mission is not a single place.
Core capability means a particularly strong concentration relevant to this mission. Connected capability means other ecosystems contributing important complementary strength. UKIZ maps capability before allocating prestige: no place has been designated the home of any mission.
Core capability
- London
- Cambridge
- Oxford
- Manchester
- Birmingham & the West Midlands
- Bristol & Bath
- Sheffield & Rotherham
- Leeds & West Yorkshire
- Liverpool City Region
- Newcastle & the North East
- Teesside & the Humber
- Edinburgh
- Glasgow & the Central Belt
- Belfast
- Cardiff & South Wales
- Southampton & Portsmouth
- Cornwall & Plymouth
- Nottingham & Derby
- Norwich & the East
Connected capability
Complementary ecosystems for this mission are still being assessed.
What is a UK Innovation Zone?
A UK Innovation Zone is a mission-led ecosystem connecting the places, organisations, capital, infrastructure and people required to turn British capability into commercial outcomes.
A Zone may have a physical centre where evidence demonstrates that new infrastructure or concentration would create additional value. But the network comes first.
The mission in detail
01 — THE MISSION
Britain will not compete on leading-edge logic volume. It can lead in compound semiconductors, photonics, design and specialist connectivity — if fabrication and packaging capacity exists here.
02 — WHY IT MATTERS
- Retained fabrication capacity in Britain
- Design capability converted into manufactured value
- Supply chain resilience for defence and energy
A specialist, scaled analogue of Taiwan's fabrication corridor — narrow rather than universal.
03 — WHERE THE CAPABILITY IS
- The world's first compound semiconductor cluster in South Wales.
- World-class chip design and photonics research.
- Existing fabrication and packaging capability at specialist scale.
Current geographic hypothesis: Distributed. Core capability concentrates around South Wales, Bristol, Cambridge, Glasgow and Southampton, with complementary strength in the Midlands and the North West.. This is indicative geography — a record of where relevant capability is concentrated today, not a decision that this mission belongs to one place or that anything would be built there.
04 — EXISTING STRENGTHS
- CSconnected in South Wales
- Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult
- Southampton and Glasgow photonics research
- Cambridge and Bristol design capability
05 — ECOSYSTEM PARTICIPANTS
The types of organisation and individual already active in this capability. Listing a participant type is a description of the ecosystem, not membership, endorsement or a commitment by anyone named or implied.
- Semiconductor and photonics companies
- Design houses
- Equipment and materials suppliers
- Industrial and infrastructure capital
06 — INDUSTRIES
- Compound semiconductors
- Photonics
- Chip design
- Packaging and test
- Advanced connectivity
07 — UNIVERSITIES & RESEARCH
- Cardiff University
- University of Southampton
- University of Glasgow
- University of Bristol
08 — INFRASTRUCTURE — EXISTING AND POTENTIALLY MISSING
- Fabrication and cleanrooms
- Packaging and test capability
- Metrology
- Reliable high-capacity power
Listing infrastructure is not a proposal to build it. Physical intervention is only recommended where evidence demonstrates additionality.
09 — THE COMMERCIALISATION PATH
- Research→
- Problem→
- Prototype→
- Company→
- Capital→
- Customer→
- Scale→
- Export
10 — POTENTIAL OUTCOMES TO TEST
- Retained fabrication capacity in Britain
- Design capability converted into manufactured value
- Supply chain resilience for defence and energy
These are hypotheses to be tested, not forecasts, targets or guarantees. Each would need to pass the additionality test — would it happen anyway, or happen elsewhere in Britain? — before it counts as a reason to intervene. UKIZ makes no projections it cannot evidence.
How additionality is tested →Get involved
What are you working on?
If this mission is your world — as a founder, researcher, operator, investor or institution — tell us what you could contribute and what you need.
Other missions
Life Sciences & Health Innovation
Turn British discovery and NHS-scale clinical evidence into British medicines, devices and health companies
Engineering Biology & Biomanufacturing
Make Britain a place where engineered biology is manufactured, not only invented
Quantum Technologies
Convert two decades of national quantum research investment into British companies and customers
Something here wrong or missing? Challenge this.