Sunak pledges extra £100m to buy semiconductors as global AI race heats up August 20, 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is dedicating a further £100m of public funds to procure more semiconductors to help Britain in the global AI race. Through ongoing negotiations with tech giants Nvidia, AMD, and Intel, the government is looking to ramp up their chip supply and establish a national “AI Research Resource”, after a recent report [...]
Intel: £4.2bn deal to buy Israeli chipmaker Tower Semiconductor lapses on China stall August 16, 2023 Intel and Israeli chipmaker Tower Semiconductor have “mutually agreed” to call off their $5.4bn (£4.2bn) deal due to regulatory hurdles from China. In a statement on Wednesday, leading semiconductor manufacturer Intel said it will pay a termination fee of $353m to Tower after the merger failed to get approval from regulators by its 15 August deadline. [...]
Amazon eyes anchor investor role ahead of Arm IPO August 9, 2023 Amazon is reportedly in discussions to become an anchor investor in Arm as the chip designer gears up to go public. The technology giant is joining the likes of Alphabet, which owns google, and semiconductor companies Nvidia and Intel in the queue to become a major investor in Cambridge-based Arm, according to Reuters. Arm plays [...]
British chip maker plans US move after government strategy let-down August 6, 2023 Chip manufacturer Pragmatic Semiconductor has suggested the government’s weak semiconductor strategy is to blame for a US expansion. The taxpayer funded chipmaker is looking to raise upwards of £100m of investment as it eyes up a US expansion after setting up a subsidiary there in February. “We’re not going to be raising 10 times that, [...]
IQE meets £52m revenue targets amid challenging semiconductor market July 26, 2023 Global semiconductor supplier IQE has performed in line with expectations during the first half of the year. The British manufacturer will hit a revenue of “at least” £52m in line with market guidance and management expectations, IQE said today in an unaudited pre-close trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2023. The AIM-listed [...]
UK optical chip company Optalysys bags £21m in funding for ‘groundbreaking’ encryption tech July 17, 2023 A UK chip designer has secured £21m in a Series A round of investment as it looks to enhance its “groundbreaking” data-sharing security that could pave the way for new levels of encryption able to defend users even from quantum computer-using hackers. Leeds-based Optalysys has secured the funding led by investment companies Lingotto and Northern [...]
Nvidia considers investment in Arm as firm seeks $80bn valuation July 12, 2023 Nvidia is reportedly engaged in discussions with Arm about becoming an anchor investor in the chip designer ahead of its initial public offering in New York. The two chip companies are currently thrashing out a valuation, the Financial Times reported. Nvidia is said to be seeking a long-term stake that would value Cambridge-based Arm between [...]
Government lags on ‘disappointing’ semiconductor strategy already as advisory panel still not announced July 5, 2023 The government’s Semiconductor Advisory Panel (SAP) announcement is almost a month late, leaving chip experts questioning the effectiveness of the national semiconductor strategy. In the national semiconductor strategy, published in May, the government said it will “formally launch the advisory panel at London Tech Week in June 2023 as part of our drive to promote [...]
Sunak’s semiconductor plans will leave UK ‘very vulnerable’, warn tech bosses May 19, 2023 Tech bosses have hit out at the government’s landmark £1bn semiconductor strategy, blasting it as “a drop in the ocean” which leaves the UK “very vulnerable”. Founders warned the government’s proposals for investment over the next decade to boost the UK’s domestic silicon chip and compound semiconductor production were “disappointing”, with the announced £1bn funding [...]
Ease in semiconductor shortage helps car production increase by 8,000 as UK shipments to EU up 6.5 per cent March 30, 2023 Car production has increased following an easing of a two-year long shortage of semiconductors, figures show. The number of cars built in UK factories reached 69,707 last month, over 8,000 more than the same month a year ago, said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). The report noted an improvement in supply chain [...]