Chipmaker Pragmatic takes a slice of £150m industry cashpot to go green
British chipmaker Pragmatic has been injected with £2.4m to make its semiconductor manufacturing process greener.
The production of semiconductors, microchips used in most of today’s electronics, is highly resource intensive and uses a significant amount of energy and water.
“While many semiconductor companies are taking positive steps to mitigate this, for example with a transition to sustainable sources of energy, this is unlikely to improve the situation sufficiently to offset the ongoing growth in use of electronics,” Pragmatic CEO Scott White told City A.M.
The funding has been made available by the government’s national science funding agency UK Research and Innovation, which has set aside £147m in industry investment to support manufacturers and tech developers to digitise, automate and boost their factories and supply chains.
The project will see the company use tech such as sensors and AI to help manage energy and water consumption.
With chips playing a critical role in the electrification of cars and the green transition worldwide, their manufacturing process must be greener, White explained.
“Semiconductors are a central element to many sustainability solutions such as the enablement of smart grid infrastructure, renewable energy technologies, electric vehicles, and the circular economy,” he added.