U.K. Election Delays Chip Policies, Industry Innovation Endures – EE Times

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Last week, key senior executives from the U.K.’s semiconductor industry all gathered at 10 Downing Street in London—the home of the country’s Prime Minister—to gain support for the launch of an independent semiconductor institute. Plenty of photos of the executives in front of the world-famous front door were posted all over social media.

Then, just two days later outside the same door, the Prime Minister announced a general election for July 4, 2024. As a result, the Prime Minister spearheading that support is now no longer in office as parliament is now dissolved until after the election. The industry is now speculating what happens next, especially if any incoming minister chooses a different course of action.

But that did not stop the electronics industry coming out in force this week for the Hardware Pioneers Max 2024 show in London, with a buzz around the show and conference floor that you might typically see at embedded world in Nuremberg or at electronica in Munich. (EE Times will be there in November at electronica, as well as at the inaugural embedded world in Austin, Texas, later this year.)

EE Times and AspenCore Media were out in force at Hardware Pioneers Max 2024 this week talking to everyone, from students and engineers to product managers and senior executives—some who were at the Prime Minister’s house last week.

It was clear to me that the U.K. electronics industry has not lost its drive for research, innovation and ideas in semiconductors and connectivity technology. I have witnessed this over the last 40 years here in the U.K., and despite companies having ideas here and heading out to Silicon Valley in the U.S. to make a success, the passion for this industry on these shores is very apparent.

Key themes prevalent at the Hardware Pioneers Max show were around IoT, connectivity, security, processors and AI. You can get your own flavor of what went on from three video interviews we have posted on YouTube.

The first is a chat between me and veteran electronics industry writer Robert Huntley, where we talk about what we saw at the show, and what he’ll be writing in EE Times Europe.

The second is my interview with Simon Ford, CEO of Blecon, a startup which harnesses the ubiquity of Bluetooth Low Energy to deliver IoT connectivity.
Finally, I had a chance to talk with Amir Sherman, a well-known figure in the industry representing Edge Impulse to talk about edge AI and where that is heading.
And if you want to continue the debate about what happens to semiconductor policy while the election campaign runs, you could head to the NMI (formerly National Microelectronics Institute) annual industry conference for the U.K. semiconductor industry organized by TechWorks, taking place in Liverpool, England, June 5.