British government torched over lack of chips strategy The UK government has come under further fire for dragging its feet on a national semiconductor strategy while other industrialized nations push ahead with investment in their own high-tech sectors. A committee of MPs within the House of Commons has reiterated its call for a semiconductor strategy to be published urgently in …
How long would it take us to catch up with decent fab? Design appears to be an indigenous skill, albeit championed only by ARM.
Just getting to 5nm is a bit more difficult than getting to 8um and see how we go from there.
We can see attempts in Russia and China which get A* for effort but C- for usefulness. The government tried with Inmos (anyone remember them?) and the Transputer (remember that?). They tried to bully GEC (before it merged and dispersed) We got quite good at III-V or even II-VI (remember those?)
I don't know what the answer is, but reports are easy. I suppose I like to think we are part of the western world which engages in trade conducted within parameters which include the rule of law.
At the turn of the year Macron "addressed the nation" with plans that included reining in Google et al. Not many people seem to like them but spending money on producing also rans doesn't seem to be a great decision.
One person's aspirations can be another person's prime example of commercial folly.
British investors are seemingly pretty cynical and hard nosed. It might be cool and sexy to be able to fab a 3 nanometer chip and sling it in an iPhone, but if someone else is already doing that, there's not going to be any good return on that investment.
Basically, there is more money to be made turning someone else's components into things that are hard to make than there is in making the components themselves, especially if there is an oversupply of components. So, many would say, "Why would we want to waste our time and money investing huge sums in a saturated market where there is already huge investments going in to make that oversupply worse?".
In recent decades realism has paid off. The satellite manufacturering industry is busy, profitable, and hugely effective on the world market. The aerospace industry is worth more than it ever was, even if we don't build whole aircraft. And so forth.
This does mean British investors miss things; Psion basically pioneered a lot of what we now consider commonplace, but it's all done abroad... The best place to put money is in something new, not copy cat ideas.
It’s about right for our government. I mean ANY British government; not just the latest shower
it’s a national tradition for the govt of the day to be as lame and unresponsive and slooooooooow to react as possible. And when they do eventually wake up, it’s aeons too late and the “action” (I use the term loosely) is woefully inadequate to the point of being humorous
That’s why we’re in such an atrocious mess
>The Empire derived from the Royal Navy
We had the better privateers, helped by the British government turning a blind eye to their exploits, which included plundering the ships of other European countries...
The Royal Navy grew to protect the empire its privateers founded.
>Government policies and sponsorship to build better faster vessels than the Dutch.
Not sure about this - suggest you read about the real meaning of the words "Rule Britannia, Britannia, rule the waves"...
> helped by the British government turning a blind eye to their exploits, which included plundering the ships of other European countries...
You do realise we were at war with most of them at the time?
Plus most of them were happily transporting slaves.
Yes, we reserved the right to search their ships, especially after we defeated the lot of them, it was part of the peace conditions.
> Not sure about this - suggest you read about the real meaning of the words "Rule Britannia, Britannia, rule the waves"...
Which would be a song sung to inspire England to stand up and fight for liberty against the Europeans yet again set on conquest of blighty. A song written by a Scot in a London pub and used in a play about invasion.
No. Some MPs form the government, but not all. Quoting https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/role/relations-with-other-institutions/parliament-government/
"Parliament and the Government are different. They have different roles and do different things."
"HM Government consists of the Prime Minister, their Cabinet and junior ministers, supported by the teams of non-political civil servants that work in government departments."
And
"Parliament is there to represent our interests and make sure they are taken into account by the Government. The Government cannot make new laws or raise new taxes without Parliament's agreement.
Parliament is made up of people we have elected and people who have been appointed. They sit in two separate Houses:
The House of Commons, where all the people we have elected at the General Election work, as MPs, for the next five years. This includes people in other political parties, as well as those in the winning party who were not chosen to be ministers."
Thus all MPs are members of the House of Commons, but not all MPs are members of the Government
That is a really excellent idea.
We are well placed, both in term of geography and national know-how, to import the toxic-waste output and "dispose" of it. And being outside the EU we no longer have to deal with their petty pollution laws. (As of the end of the year.) You might be on to something here.
@AC
"And being outside the EU we no longer have to deal with their petty pollution laws"
That is a very good point. The UK digs plenty of space for landfill already. If you dig a hole in Holland you get wet feet. The EU in its infinite stupidity wanted a level playing field so we can ditch some of the excessive nonsense. Including the dumb law insisting a guy be fined for not littering and instead taking his lunchtime trash home to dispose of (needed some sort of license to do that).
Ah yes. That was when Nadine was the minister "in charge". Do search for the Daily Dorries page on Twitter if you've never seen it, and acquaint yourself with some of the literary genius that she actually has published over the years.
For instance : ""One of our own has been murdered in a graveyard, had his dick hacked off and fed to a cat. We have no idea who did it".
The one where everyone from the UK going to mainland Europe has to have their photo and fingerprints taken.
Think that the queues at Dover last summer were bad? Think again.
The EU are having a lot of issues with the system so its implementation date has been put back to the end of 2023 (AFAIK) so we will be spared the pain and anguish until 2024.
One wag on the ferry last week said, "Traveling through Dover in the summer? Better get there at least two days early or you will miss your ferry and the same coming back."
I think I'll stay at home next year.
@IGotOut
"Form a trade alliance with our European neighbours, where goods can move freely without red tape, import and export duties, lengthy custom delays and the movement of labour to where it's needed.
I just don't get why our government hasn't thought of this."
Not sure the EU will go for this. They are a bit upset we left their political union and would probably insist we had to do something stupid like rejoin to get such trade.
> Form a trade alliance with our European neighbours, where goods can move freely without red tape, import and export duties, lengthy custom delays and the movement of labour to where it's needed.
> I just don't get why our government hasn't thought of this.
It's called a trade deal and the EU didnt want one as it wouldnt make an example of those who dared to leave their super-country.
They said it to the world on live TV. That they would make sure the Brexit process was used as a means to make an example out of Britain to warn against anyone else leaving. Junker said it LIVE on TV.
People have forgotten that, simply because they wanted to be in the Matrix and enjoy ignorance, rewarded by no roaming charges, spanish villas (even asked the locals what they think of that?) and cheap labour allowing UK businesses that cant handle world trade like the rest of the world to skirt around minimum wage laws while every UK citizen learns that every street is now called benefits street.
Oh the high life...
>awarded a multi-billion-£, no-bid contract to our mates for the development of a world-leading chip fab app.
That's just ridiculous. They awarded a multi-billion-£, no-bid contract to their mates for the development of a logo for the project.
Actually developing a world-leading chip fab would involve listening to experts, and possibility even foreigners
Actually developing a world-leading fab would require a plausible plan for it being profitable.It might help to have it owned and operated by a successful company.
So if you want one in the UK, make it attractive for TSMC or Samsung (or, for second-best, Intel) to build one here. To find out what would make it attractive, you'd have to talk to them.
It seems as though folk who want a 'semiconductor strategy' have forgotten a few detail - unless all they want is to have **their** friends showered with trillions stolen from the common taxpayer.
The problem is that semiconductor design, manufacture, test, packaging etc is a business. Which means it has to make a profit to continue to exist. Which means that something it does is usefully better than what someone else offers. How exactly can a government guarantee that?
The best it can do is get out of the way. So it could simplify and reduce laws on planning permissions; but then the unhappy citizens of some portion of the UK run the risk of seeing - horrors - a factory being erected near their back doors. It could reduce taxation in general; but then competent business folk would invest in stuff that has a probability of making money, not a capital-intensive long term risk. It could reduce labour law constraints; but then any fab might be staffed by 1000 robots, ten humans and a pride of lions, paid to eat the humans if they touched anything. Etc etc etc.
That said, the government **could** have an overarching strategy. The best seems to be to be as small as possible, which results in minimal taxation, leaving more money in the hands of people.
And people, amazingly, tend to think that they are the best deciders of how to spend their income and wealth; look at the number of people who avail themselves of the ability to donate to the government. It's essentially zero...
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
