Expanding Microelectronics UK show reflects sector optimism…

This week’s Microelectronics UK exhibition, held in London’s Excel Centre,  saw thousands of attendees enjoying a varied selection of content across photonics, semiconductors, and embedded systems – and in many cases, a convergence of the three disciplines.

Julia Sutcliffe, Chief Scientific Adviser in the UK Government’s Department for Business Innovation, Science and Trade, opened this year’s show by emphasising the need for attendees to make connections, challenge assumptions, and identify barriers to success.

“As Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, I see every day how the UK’s scientific strengths support growth, resilience, and national capability - and microelectronics sits at the heart of that agenda,” said Sutcliffe.

She noted that last year’s opening speaker, Kanishka Narayan, who has since been appointed Minister for Artificial Intelligence, underlined the importance of this agenda across government, and that the minister had passed on his “very strong support”.

“I think it’s clear that when companies, when universities, when investors, and when specialist facilities are co-located and can collaborate, ideas accelerate, supply chains become stronger, and businesses are much more likely to grow where they started,” Sutcliffe continued. “Building those clusters of scale is not just about supporting one sector. It’s about backing regional growth, creating opportunity right the way across the UK, and making sure that the technologies of the future drive growth in every postcode, as per the Prime Minister’s commitment.
“What is the British Government doing to help make that journey easier?” Sutcliffe asked. “That transition from technology and innovation into tradable outcomes; that is going to mean backing research, improving access to infrastructure, helping companies move from prototype to product, supporting skills and investment that will allow hardware businesses to grow.”

‘Good business ecosystem’

Following this, on the Semiconductor UK stage, Rupert Baines, chair of the UKTIN Semiconductor Expert Working Group, and Prerana Joshi, research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a UK-based “think tank” researching defense, security and international affairs, explored the EU Chips Act 2.0 – but this was only a starting point for a wider discussion around geopolitics, supply chains, and sovereignty.
Joshi asked, “where might the UK have the upper hand over the rest of Europe?”

“One of the starting points we have is building the startups,” said Baines, adding that, the Baltics aside, the UK was “probably several years ahead of most of continental Europe. In the UK, we have a very good ecosystem now: academics, lawyers, VC funds, serial entrepreneurs, for enabling deep-tech and semiconductor startups,” Baines said.

Could incentivising private capital to invest in hardware startups and to commit to that help, asked Joshi? “I think we’re getting there,” replied Baines. “This is an area I feel, if we were speaking ten years ago, I would be very pessimistic. Semiconductors were out of fashion. VCs did not like hardware. The ecosystem was really hurting, but now we are seeing very good, positive policy changes in the UK.”

Baines cited Pragmatic Semiconductor utilizing savings and investment company M&G as an example of how pension funds can take big positions. “We have rich pension funds in Europe, and hopefully that will start to flow through the investment rounds, that will enable that next generation of world-class companies.”
“I think there’s a few things that the UK could be doing more of,” said Joshi. “I think we’re getting very good at the culture of startups and tech bros and VC hubs. That’s naturally bleeding through from Silicon Valley, and the UK’s Cambridge Belt. I think from a diplomatic leverage perspective and from an economic leverage perspective, we’re good. 

“But the middle gap between just doing business, having a culture of commerce, a culture of salesmanship, business translation – I think that’s something that has been missing,” he said.

Photonics focus

The Photonics UK presentation program opened with a panel discussion, entitled “What Will the Photonics Roadmap Mean for the UK Photonics Market”, led by Lewis Hill, General Manager of the UK’s Photonics Leadership Group. Speakers included Iain Mauchline, Head of Semiconductors at Innovate UK and Raj Gawera, Chief Operating Officer and the UK Semiconductor Centre.

Also on the Photonics UK stage, space formed a key part of the morning’s discussions. The UK’s National Space Strategy was published earlier in September, so it was good timing for Robert Atchison, UK managing director at Clearspace UK, to explore free space optical communications – and modular design.
“What I now would ask for, as we evolve as a community in terms of photonics, but also semiconductors, is that modularity is taken into account,” said Atchison. “I appreciate we are not talking yet about advanced robotics being able to go to certain subsystem level in an augmented way. I believe hopefully that will happen in the not-too-distant future.

“I have the privilege of working with people who make solutions to these problems, and also see things that I don’t – and so that’s where, as a community, I am also very keen to leverage that knowledge and those opportunities to pull it forward, because there might be a better way of doing things.”

After a busy day’s networking and learning about the progress of the microelectronics sector and its related disciplines, attendees were treated to a concert by Oasish – said to be “the UK’s foremost Oasis tribute act”.

Semiconductor Catapult launched

Coincident with the first day of Microelectronics 2026, the Semiconductor Catapult was launched with the aim of “strengthening UK supply chains and accelerating semiconductor technologies from concept to reality.” The organization, which was also an exhibitor at this event, provides customers with access to UK semiconductor supply chain integration, design, system test and validation, to deliver “long-term economic benefit to the UK.”

The Catapult, based in Newport, Wales, with other labs in Bristol and Glasgow, claims to be the only place in the UK – and one of the few places in Europe – with co-located, multidisciplinary teams spanning RF and microwave, photonics, power electronics, advanced packaging, and quantum.

Clients work with the Catapult on commercial and collaborative research and development projects, accessing specialist engineering expertise, laboratories and equipment to reduce technical risk, validate new technologies and accelerate product development.

Caroline O’Brien, CEO of the Semiconductor Catapult commented, “The market opportunity for the UK in AI hardware and defence is moving quickly. The Semiconductor Catapult ensures more of the technologies, supply chains and economic benefits created by semiconductor innovation are developed and retained in the UK.

“By bringing together multidisciplinary expertise, specialist facilities and system-level integration capability, the Semiconductor Catapult will help companies reduce risk and accelerate their route to market. We bridge gaps in device innovation, test, validation and scale-up particularly in heterogenous design, photonics integration and in RF, serving the AI hardware and defence markets.”