UK Science and Innovation Network in Japan: support for semiconductors

A UK Science and Innovation Network (SIN) impact story covering support for semiconductors in Japan.

UK-Japan semiconductors partnership

Following on from the establishment of the UK-Japan Digital Partnership in December 2022 and making the most of the opportunity and focus on Japan offered by Japan's G7 presidency, SIN Japan played a key supporting role in establishing the UK-Japan Semiconductors Partnership.

This partnership was announced alongside the then Prime Minister's announcement of the UK's National Semiconductor Strategy, and included commitments to joint research and development (R&D), industry dialogues and expert missions, as well as setting the tone for future joint calls between the UK and Japan's respective research funding agencies.

Background

In December 2022 , the UK and Japan established the UK-Japan Digital Partnership, with support from SIN Japan, which outlined several areas in digital technologies where the UK and Japan plan to cooperate, including artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors and future telecoms.

2023 happened to be the year of Japan's G7 presidency, and Japan's administration was placing a focus on their semiconductor strategy, including billions of pounds in investment to incentivise foreign semiconductor manufacturers and billions of pounds in funding for domestic R&D aimed at establishing a domestic supply of cutting-edge semiconductor chips.

At the same time, the Science & Technology Framework (PDF, 998 KB) had been published in the UK, domestic policy focus within the UK had been continually working to develop closer person-to-person relationships between key research and industry figures and enhance science and technology cooperation between the UK and Japan in line with the international strand of that framework.

Japan's G7 presidency, and the extensive senior ministerial engagement associated with it, provided unique opportunities, including in semiconductors, to help researchers in both countries accelerate their research through international collaboration.

Impact 

Following policy developments closely, SIN Japan identified an opportunity to support UK-Japan collaboration on semiconductors. As part of our ongoing work and regular communication with DSIT policy teams, we advised on the value-add of launching a specific, semiconductor policy partnership with Japan at the same time as HM Government's National Semiconductor Strategy.

Key to unlocking this opportunity had been the strong relationships nurtured by both the ambassador and embassy SIN team with key stakeholders in Japan, so that the right connections could be made between the relevant parties in the UK and Japan and discussions could begin from a position of long-standing trust (an often-essential components for successful bilateral engagement in Japan).

SIN Japan had already made sustained efforts to promote and expand the bilateral relationship between the UK and Japan's respective funding agencies, as well as between HM Government and the Japanese Government's relevant ministries.  

The Semiconductors Partnership was announced by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (alongside the release of the UK's National Semiconductor Strategy) during his visit to Japan for the G7 in May 2023 and included a commitment to ambitious joint research, exploration of how to cooperatively harness ministerial R&D budgets, expertise and skills sharing, industry dialogues and expert missions.

The UK's National Semiconductor Strategy released at the same time also set out a major UK government investment (£1 billion over 5 years) into semiconductors. UK Government's media engagement pitched the UK-Japan Semiconductors Partnership as part of a wider upgrading of the UK-Japan relationship through the historic Hiroshima Accord, which set out a great number of other new areas for enhanced UK-Japan cooperation, including across defence, security, and our extensive bilateral economic relationship.

Following the announcement, Japanese media picked up the announcement and drew strong connections between the UK's semiconductor announcements and the wider Hiroshima Accord. This drew significant media attention and led to dozens of press reports across UK and Japanese media highlighting the UK-Japan Semiconductor Partnership.

As part of the bilateral engagement driven by SIN Japan, there was a strong focus on making joint funding available for researchers to work together. When the UK-Japan Semiconductor Partnership was launched, the UK and Japan agreed in principle to joint funding calls between their respective funding agencies, and the EPSRC and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) later announced a-million-pound contribution each towards a funding call for research into semiconductors. This was later revised upwards to £3,990,000 of UKRI funding plus a match amount from JST. A call for bids was launched on 24 May 2024.

SIN Japan continues to work with UKRI EPSRC, JST and other key departments, agencies and research institutes in Japan to enable further opportunities for researchers and continue our cooperation to help secure semiconductors support global technology need.