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Regional cluster

The South Wales compound semiconductor cluster

The Newport to Cardiff corridor holds the most complete semiconductor manufacturing chain in the UK: epitaxy, wafer fabrication, process equipment manufacture, packaging and translational research within a short drive of each other.

Why does South Wales matter in semiconductors?

The curated Semiconductor.co.uk company index currently holds 13 published records in this cluster — 13 dedicated semiconductor businesses and 0 diversified companies with semiconductor capability alongside other activity, across 8 capabilities. The count moves as records are verified, and is a count of published records rather than an estimate of every company in the region.

Because it is the one UK cluster where the physical chain is close to complete. Compound semiconductor wafers are grown here, devices are fabricated here on 200mm lines, the etch and deposition equipment used to make them is built here, packaging and assembly happen here, and two universities run open-access fabrication for prototyping and pilot production.

The cluster is organised around compound semiconductors — gallium nitride, silicon carbide, gallium arsenide and indium phosphide — rather than leading-edge silicon logic. That focus matches the national strategy's decision to back materials, equipment and intellectual property rather than compete for volume silicon fabs.

13
Published records in this cluster
Curated index, verified individually
13
Dedicated semiconductor businesses
Semiconductors are the core activity
0
Diversified companies
Semiconductor capability alongside other work
8
Distinct primary capabilities
From the controlled capability vocabulary

At a glance

  • The UK's most complete compound semiconductor manufacturing chain
  • 200mm wafer fabrication at Newport, under Vishay ownership since 2024
  • Epitaxial wafer growth at scale in Cardiff and Newport
  • Etch and deposition equipment manufactured and exported from Newport
  • Open-access university fabrication at Cardiff and Swansea
  • Coordinated by CSconnected, a dedicated cluster organisation

What this cluster specialises in

Epitaxy and wafer growth

Compound semiconductor epitaxial wafers for radio frequency, photonics, power and advanced sensing markets.

Wafer fabrication and power devices

Automotive-qualified 200mm fabrication, including silicon carbide and power device production.

Process equipment and materials

Etch, deposition and wafer-processing equipment, plus process chemicals and specialist materials supply.

Packaging, assembly and design

Back-end assembly and packaging, design automation and processor design businesses working alongside the manufacturing base.

Capabilities recorded here

  • Epitaxy4
  • EDA / Design Automation2
  • Semiconductor Materials2
  • Back-End Assembly / Packaging1
  • Front-End Semiconductor Manufacturing1
  • Process Chemicals1
  • Processor / Accelerator Design1
  • Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment1

Companies recorded in this cluster

Drawn live from the central company index and listed alphabetically, with no ranking or paid placement. A cluster is only recorded where the operating location genuinely sits inside the cluster geography, so companies elsewhere in the same region are not listed here.

Showing 13 of 13

  • Compound Semiconductor Centre

    Dedicated

    Cardiff joint venture providing compound semiconductor epitaxy development and pilot production services, bridging research work and volume wafer manufacturing.

    Epitaxy · Cardiff

    Website

  • Entegris UK (Barry)

    Dedicated

    Barry, Wales site of the global Entegris semiconductor materials business, registered for the manufacture, import and sale of chemical-mechanical planarisation materials used to polish silicon and compound-semiconductor wafers including silicon carbide and gallium nitride.

    Process Chemicals · Barry

    UK operation of Entegris, Inc. (United States)

    Website

  • Ffotoneg

    Dedicated

    Cardiff company offering design-to-device services for compound semiconductor photonics, covering device and epitaxial design in-house with epitaxy and fabrication carried out through partner facilities in the South Wales cluster.

    Epitaxy · Cardiff

    Website

  • IQE

    Dedicated

    Cardiff-headquartered supplier of compound semiconductor epitaxial wafers for wireless, photonics, display and power applications, with manufacturing in the UK and overseas.

    Epitaxy · Cardiff

    Website

  • KLA — SPTS division

    Dedicated

    Newport-based manufacturer of wafer processing equipment for etch, deposition and surface preparation, operating as part of KLA Corporation.

    Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment · Newport

    UK operation of KLA Corporation

    Website

  • KuasaSemi

    Dedicated

    Cardiff company developing device simulation software for wide bandgap semiconductor design, covering silicon carbide and gallium nitride power devices, compound semiconductor RF devices and optoelectronics.

    EDA / Design Automation · Cardiff

    Website

  • Kubos Semiconductors

    Dedicated

    Company developing cubic gallium nitride materials and LED device technology, working with compound semiconductor epitaxy partners in South Wales.

    Semiconductor Materials · Cardiff

    Website

  • Microchip Technology UK

    Dedicated

    United Kingdom operation of Microchip Technology, whose Caldicot site provides semiconductor microelectronic services including design, assembly and test, alongside further English design offices.

    Back-End Assembly / Packaging · Caldicot

    UK operation of Microchip Technology Incorporated (United States)

    Website

  • MicroLink Devices UK

    Dedicated

    Port Talbot manufacturer of III-V epitaxial lift-off solar cell technology for satellite and aircraft power systems, serving UK and European demand for lightweight high specific power arrays.

    Epitaxy · Port Talbot

    UK operation of MicroLink Devices, Inc.

    Website

  • Novomorphic

    Dedicated

    Cardiff company working on chip and system co-design for edge artificial intelligence sensing and control applications.

    Processor / Accelerator Design · Cardiff

    Website

  • Space Forge

    Dedicated

    Cardiff company developing returnable satellite platforms intended to manufacture semiconductor materials in orbit for terrestrial power and radio-frequency devices.

    Semiconductor Materials · Cardiff

    Website

  • Thalia Design Automation

    Dedicated

    Welsh software company providing design automation tools that help chip developers migrate analogue and mixed-signal designs between manufacturing processes.

    EDA / Design Automation · Swansea

    Website

  • Vishay Newport

    Dedicated

    Newport wafer fabrication plant operated by Vishay Intertechnology following its 2024 acquisition, producing power semiconductor and related silicon devices.

    Front-End Semiconductor Manufacturing · Newport

    UK operation of Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (United States)

    Website

Search the full UK company index · Report a correction or a missing company

The manufacturing chain

Epitaxy sits at the front of the chain. IQE, headquartered in Cardiff, grows compound semiconductor wafers for radio frequency, photonic, power and sensing applications, and the Compound Semiconductor Centre in Cardiff provides further epitaxial capability oriented to development and scale-up. Additional epitaxy and thin-film capability sits at Port Talbot and Cardiff.

Wafer fabrication is anchored by the Newport plant, a 200mm automotive-qualified site acquired by Vishay Intertechnology from Nexperia in March 2024 for around $177 million following UK Government review, and now operating as Vishay Newport. In March 2025 the Government announced a further £250 million Vishay investment to expand silicon carbide production at the site; that is an announced commitment rather than confirmed completed spend.

Equipment and back-end capability complete the chain. KLA's SPTS division has manufactured etch and deposition equipment in Newport since the 1980s and opened a $138 million research and manufacturing facility there in May 2025. Microchip Technology runs assembly and packaging at Caldicot, Entegris supplies process chemicals from Barry, and design automation and processor design businesses operate from Cardiff and Swansea.

Universities and research

Cardiff University's Institute for Compound Semiconductors, in the Translational Research Hub, offers open-access device fabrication and small-scale pilot production up to 200mm, established with Welsh Government, UK Research Partnership Investment Fund and European funding. It is used by companies as well as academic groups, which matters in a cluster where most companies are too small to own a fab.

Swansea University's Centre for Integrative Semiconductor Materials opened on the Bay Campus in 2023 as a partnership with IQE, KLA and the Newport fab, with cleanrooms, metal-organic chemical vapour deposition growth and a wide-bandgap power electronics pilot line supported through the Driving the Electric Revolution industrialisation network. Between them the two universities provide the prototyping layer between research and production.

Investment and programmes

Public commitment to the cluster has been sustained and specific. A five-year UK Research and Innovation Strength in Places Fund programme worth around £43 million ran to 2026 and funded shared research, equipment and skills work through CSconnected. In June 2025 the Government confirmed a £160 million contribution towards a Cardiff Capital Region Investment Zone intended to develop a Newport semiconductor hub and a Cardiff science and technology park. Cardiff Capital Region had earlier co-invested in IQE's Newport foundry site.

Private investment has come from the large manufacturers and from IQE itself, which announced an £81 million investment package including a strategic partner in April 2026. CSconnected reports cluster-supported Welsh employment of around 3,140 jobs and £436 million of Welsh gross value added over the Strength in Places period; those are cluster-commissioned figures, published by CSconnected with analysis by Cardiff University, rather than official statistics.

Cluster and industry organisations

CSconnected

The cluster organisation for South Wales compound semiconductors, now a standalone not-for-profit following its Strength in Places Fund programme.

Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult

National applications and commercialisation body headquartered in Newport, working on power electronics, radio frequency and photonics.

Cardiff Capital Region

City-deal body that has co-invested in cluster infrastructure and leads the regional Investment Zone work.

Driving the Electric Revolution industrialisation centres

Innovate UK network providing power electronics and machines industrialisation capability, with a Welsh node at Swansea.

How this cluster fits the UK sector

South Wales is where UK semiconductor manufacturing is most concentrated, and the cluster most often cited when the sector's industrial capability is discussed. It depends on the design-led clusters for customers and on national programmes for equipment investment, and it is the natural home for compound semiconductor work that Cambridge and Bristol design but cannot make locally.

The 2026 Government sector study identifies 12 regional semiconductor clusters across the UK. The national clusters overview sets out all twelve, each with its own resource and live company count.

Sources

Facilities, programmes and funding described above are drawn from the following first-party and institutional sources. Figures published by a cluster organisation or company are attributed to them in the text rather than presented as official statistics.

Semiconductor.co.uk is independently owned. Senior appointments, events, announcements and partnership enquiries

Continue reading

All 12 UK semiconductor clusters

The national picture, region by region, from the 2026 sector study.

UK company index

Search every published record by capability, region and cluster.

Investment and policy

Public programmes and private capital behind the sector.

Semiconductor glossary

Definitions for epitaxy, foundry, compound semiconductor and more.