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    Military chiefs to spend £200m on state-owned semiconductor factory
    United Kingdom

    Military chiefs to spend £200m on state-owned semiconductor factory

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    17 Comments

    1. FeigenbaumC on

      This part seems to be the key point here:

      >The facility currently specialises in gallium arsenide semiconductors, rather than the silicon chips widely used in computing applications.

      >[…]

      >Octric is planning to upgrade the facility to manufacture more advanced gallium nitride chips. Semiconductors made using gallium nitride are increasingly being used to develop cutting-edge radar systems used in military platforms.

      >For instance, it is understood that the latest version of the European common radar system going into the Royal Air Force’s Typhoon fighter jets will use a combination of both gallium arsenide and gallium nitride chips.

      >Gallium nitride chips are also useful in high-speed power electronics such as rapid electric car chargers, and Octric is believed to be seeking commercial customers alongside the military.

    2. Beer-Cave-Dweller on

      It’s good to see we are safeguarding supplies. Need the same for steel.

    3. cfehunter on

      Honestly, good.
      Semiconductor fabrication is key to modern technology, we’re overly reliant on (unfortunately) fairly fragile trade for it at the moment.

    4. ChatGPTbeta on

      Great news. Having some degree of control over the supply chain even in a small way, especially for defence is welcome

    5. AcademicIncrease8080 on

      Good we need to massively ramp up R&D spending and protect critical manufacturing areas from foreign takeovers (/bring all the high tech manufacturing we sold off back into UK ownership!)

      Offshoring everything to China has just empowered them and now they have all the manufacturing expertise, we never should have allowed manufacturing to collapse in the UK.

      It will be tricky because all our top graduates tend to go into professional services, experts at moving money around on a screen but not in actually making things. Oh well, hopefully we can enter a new industrial renaissance

    6. Ill_Mistake5925 on

      Good, solid move.

      *However* IMO it shouldn’t fall to the MoD to be buying out factories. Yes the MoD benefits from this, but the primary benefit is to the UK as a whole:maintaining organic semi-conductor production and enabling opportunity for export. HMT should be funding this directly, rather than in a roundabout way.

    9. Captain_English on

      GOOD. Part of the reason it’s so hard to disentangle from the US and China is that we don’t have the domestic supply base for things we need.

    10. CollaborateGorilla on

      Unambiguously good news – would be even better if we could coordinate some level of cooperation with Europe.

    11. heavenlyt1ts on

      The UK finally remembering it can make things instead of just buying them from whoever’s cheapest? Shocking. But yeah, do more of that.

    12. GeekyGamer2022 on

      Here’s a hot take;
      All national strategic assets should be state controlled. Anything which the nation relies on to function should be run in the public interest.

    13. MrPloppyHead on

      It’s so refreshing after such a long absence to hear sensible ideas coming out of government rather that stuff about unisex toilets.

    14. RepulsiveMetal8713 on

      There is already 1 in Newport wales that was due to be sold to NVIDIA last year but government put a stop on deal last minute

      Americans are always coming over and buying everything, including loca football teams, and even 007

    15. EpicTutorialTips on

      If the MOD is leaving the door open to outside investors, then this is not nationalised lol.

    16. absenceanddesire on

      200 million doesn’t buy you very much semiconductor manufacturing capacity or capability these days, must be a very small and/or old facility