The government has declared the formation of a new board to guide Britain's semiconductor industry, which is proclaimed to be "absolutely necessary for the current world we exist in".
Governments across the globe have implemented new regulations and invested vast amounts of money to advance the industry in their own nations.
We should investigate in more detail what semiconductors are and why they are essential.
Semiconductors, often referred to as microchips or integrated circuits, have become essential components in modern manufacturing.
Tiny pieces of raw materials such as silicon are altered in a process called doping to give them the capacity to either conduct or not conduct electricity.
They can be employed as electronic switches, communicating in the language of 1s and 0s that forms the basis of computing.
Despite its diminutive size, the modern microchip boasts as many transistors as there are stones in the Great Pyramid of Giza, which is a huge volume of ones and zeroes, and consequently a staggering amount of computing power that enables the complex electronic systems that fuel our lives today.
Despite their diminutive size, semiconductors are incredibly powerful and valuable - so much so, that they are the basis of an industry estimated to reach an incredible $500bn in value by 2030.
Modern computing devices, like smartphones and laptops, depend on semiconductors as their foundation.
Routers, switches, and communication infrastructures that serve as the basis of the web, allowing worldwide access, also contain them.
Regarding sustainability, semiconductors are essential; they exist in wind turbines and solar farms.
Medical devices and equipment, including implantable technology such as pacemakers and insulin pumps, play an important role in the healthcare industry.
Professor Jo Shien Ng of Sheffield University comments that semiconductors are integral to the functioning of contemporary societies, having a vital role in their essential infrastructures.
An instance of this is seen in modern cars that have electronic control systems, keyless entry, anti-lock brakes and backup cameras.
At present, the UK, the US, Europe and China are heavily dependent upon Taiwan for semiconductors.
Taiwan is the most crucial spot on the planet for producing them owing to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). This company provides more than 50 percent of the worldwide supply, including to AMD, Apple, ARM, Broadcom, Marvell, MediaTek and Nvidia.
The coronavirus pandemic has been a large cause of disruption in supply chains, and now politics is posing an additional problem - TSMC is currently tangled up in the dispute between the US and China known as the "chip wars".
Following TSMC, Samsung in South Korea is the second biggest supplier. The US has put forward hefty investments in an endeavor to draw tech manufacturing to its own country.
TSMC declared in December 2022 that its intended investment in its new US facility situated in Arizona would raise by more than threefold.
In July, there was an announcement that production had been held back by a lack of qualified employees.
The European Union is taking part as well. The European Chips Act entails €43bn of financing up until 2030.
Intel and the German government recently agreed to a deal in which the American business will construct a chip fabrication facility in the German municipality of Magdeburg. The German administration has committed to underwrite one-third of the capital needed for the project.
Production is projected to begin in four to five years.
The UK is in a position between two key economic players, but has declared actions to increase its own semiconductor production.
This year, the unveiling of a national semiconductor strategy by the government has been met by criticism, with those making such claims dismissing the proposed up to £200m investment by 2025 and £1bn in the next decade as "insignificant".
It also created a steering panel of semiconductor experts and other prominent industry figures to guide the UK industry.
Americo Lemos, CEO of the British semiconductor company IQE, established in 1988 and a participant on the panel, informed the BBC the first monetary contribution was "an essential step ahead" and "a really, really great investment".
The government declared that a group of specialists would be consulted for ideas to enhance the UK's semiconductor industry and strengthen the dependability of the sector's supply chain - which is facing augmented pressure on the international stage.
Minister of Technology Paul Scully made clear that if we want to expand our domestic semiconductor industry, ensure our safety, and promote swift innovation all throughout the British economy, we have to heed the voices and pay attention to the experts that drive research, design, and development in this field.
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