PragmatIC Semiconductor Secures £182mn for UK Expansion

Pragmatic Semiconductor, famous for their flexible semiconductor technologies, has recently announced that a government-backed fund-raising program has raised over £180mn for its future UK expansion. What exactly triggered this move, what will the new funds enable, and what does this mean for the UK going forward?

Pragmatic Semiconductor’s Threat

On electropages, we have covered a number of stories relating to Pragmatic Semiconductor, even hosting a podcast with its previous CEO, Scott White. In our coverage, we have explored the advances that Pragmatic Semiconductor has made in the field of flexible electronics and semiconductors, including the test build of the world’s first fully functional flexible ARM core. Considering that the future of electronics will highly depend on such flexible electronics, keeping a close eye on what Pragmatic has to offer goes without saying. 

Will they be able to create miniature CPUs that are entirely flexible? Will they be able to create practical, flexible circuits capable of replacing existing electronics? These are, but a few questions that we need to keep in mind when watching such manufacturers develop new technologies.

However, there is another aspect to Pragmatic Semiconductor that makes it of particular interest; it’s a UK-based company that manufactures in the UK. When considering how governments around the world are trying to incorporate a degree of semiconductor sovereignty so that no one nation can control the supply of high-tech devices, having semiconductor firms in the UK is of extreme importance. 

Sadly, semiconductors have rarely been manufactured in the UK due to a number of factors, including the lack of a strong manufacturing industry (compared to nations such as the US and China), the high land cost, environmental challenges, limited resources, and lack of skilled labour able to operate semiconductor foundries. Thus, there is a significant urgency to keep all foundries in the UK happy.

When Pragmatic asked the UK government for more funding opportunities to help it expand back in early 2023, it was met with dismay, which forced Pragmatic to threaten the UK government with expansion into other countries. In fact, the situation was so dire to Pragmatic that Scott White was interviewed by the BBC on the rising challenges faced by semiconductor firms.

Pragmatic Semiconductor Raises over £180mn in new funding round

Fortunately for Pragmatic Semiconductors, it seems that their threat has been taken seriously, and a new round of funding has been launched by both M&G’s Catalyst and the British state-owned UK Infrastructure Bank. The series D funding has thus far managed to raise approximately £182mn, which Pragmatic will use to expand its operations in the UK.

Currently, Pragmatic has two production facilities located in Durham, but with the new funds, will see this expand to eight. It is believed that this expansion will see the creation of 500 highly skilled jobs which come with significant salaries. When taking into account the recent funding round, Pragmatic Semiconductor has managed to raise a total of around $400 million since its initial launch in 2015, making it the largest venture financing project in Europe for a semiconductor company. 

“It’s an exciting opportunity for the UK semiconductor industry to play a role in the diversification of the supply chain. This here is a proof point of being able to be a UK company with UK talent with UK investors and building out semiconductor manufacturing in the north-east of England and creating hundreds of well-paid jobs as a result.” – David Moore, CEO Pragmatic Semiconductor

What does this mean for the UK moving forward?

While Pragmatic doesn’t manufacture traditional semiconductors found in everyday electronic devices, that doesn’t mean Pragmatic won’t play an important role in the semiconductor industry, both in the UK and the rest of the world. As flexible semiconductors can be cheaply made en-masse and are extremely environmentally friendly (due to the lack of energy-intensive processes), they are an ideal candidate for disposable and single-use electronics.

For example, flexible semiconductors that can be disposed of in recycling waste are ideal for product packaging, asset trackers, and sensors that can detect the state of produce. Such devices are also ideal for wearable devices and body-worn sensors that need to move and flex with motion that normal circuits would otherwise struggle to cope with. 

If Pragmatic can demonstrate that the UK is a friendly environment for semiconductor foundries, it could very well trigger a rush of investment into the country and potentially raise the importance of the UK on the semiconductor world stage.