Semiconductor IP and secure processors
Low-power memory IP and memory-safe processor architectures licensed or supplied to chip developers.
Regional cluster
The Yorkshire semiconductor cluster
A compact, design- and photonics-led cluster centred on Sheffield and Leeds, with national compound semiconductor epitaxy capability at the University of Sheffield.
What is the Yorkshire semiconductor cluster known for?
The curated Semiconductor.co.uk company index currently holds 9 published records in this cluster — 9 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.
Semiconductor IP, photonics and detectors. Sheffield holds low-power memory IP, secure processor design, single-photon and infrared detector companies and advanced packaging capability, while Leeds and York add photonic computing, design automation and processor architecture companies.
Its distinguishing national asset is epitaxy. The National Epitaxy Facility at the University of Sheffield supplies compound semiconductor epitaxial wafers to academic and industrial users across the UK, which is why the cluster punches above its company count.
- 9
- Published records in this cluster
- Curated index, verified individually
- 9
- 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
- National compound semiconductor epitaxy capability in Sheffield
- Low-power memory IP and secure processor design
- Single-photon, infrared and avalanche detector companies
- Photonic computing and quantum device developers
- Advanced packaging and interconnect capability
- A compact cluster with a strong university research base
What this cluster specialises in
Detectors and single-photon devices
Avalanche photodiodes, infrared sensing and single-photon detection devices built on compound semiconductor materials.
Photonic and quantum devices
Integrated photonics for computing and quantum applications, including photon sources and quantum-enabled systems.
Advanced packaging and design automation
Packaging and interconnect services, alongside design automation and verification tools.
Capabilities recorded here
- Photonic Integrated Circuits2
- Advanced Packaging1
- Detectors / Imaging Devices1
- EDA / Design Automation1
- Fabless Semiconductor Design1
- Processor / Accelerator Design1
- Quantum Semiconductor Devices1
- Semiconductor IP1
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 9 of 9
Aegiq
DedicatedSheffield company combining deterministic photon source technology with silicon photonics, using external foundries to build photonic quantum computing chipsets.
Photonic Integrated Circuits · Sheffield
WebsiteApitronix Semiconductor
DedicatedYork-based fabless design company developing a multi-core RISC-V real-time processor for automotive zone controllers and uncrewed aircraft flight control, taking part in UK chip design accelerator programmes.
Processor / Accelerator Design · York
WebsiteNgenics
DedicatedUniversity of York spin-out developing circuit optimisation software used by chip designers to generate optimised analogue, standard-cell and memory circuits automatically.
EDA / Design Automation · York
WebsiteOptalysys
DedicatedLeeds company developing silicon photonic processors intended to accelerate encryption workloads using optical rather than purely electronic computation.
Photonic Integrated Circuits · Leeds
WebsitePhlux Technology
DedicatedSheffield company designing and manufacturing antimonide infrared avalanche photodiode sensor chips with high sensitivity, used in lidar, fibre-optic test and industrial sensing; a University of Sheffield spin-out.
Detectors / Imaging Devices · Sheffield
WebsitePixel-Flo
DedicatedUniversity of Sheffield spin-out developing a fluidic self-assembly process for placing micro-LED die at volume, addressing the transfer step in micro-LED display manufacturing.
Advanced Packaging · Sheffield
WebsiteRobQuant
DedicatedSheffield quantum sensing company developing chip-scale magnetometers that combine nitrogen-vacancy diamond centres with silicon photonics through standard semiconductor fabrication routes for room-temperature clinical sensing.
Quantum Semiconductor Devices · Sheffield
WebsiteSCI Semiconductor
DedicatedSheffield company designing memory-safe microcontrollers and processor IP based on the CHERIoT architecture for security-critical embedded systems, with additional engineering staff in Cambridge.
Fabless Semiconductor Design · Sheffield
Websitesurecore
DedicatedSheffield-based semiconductor IP company developing low-power embedded memory designs for power-constrained and always-on chip applications.
Semiconductor IP · Sheffield
Website
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Manufacturing and fabrication capability
The cluster's fabrication capability is research-scale but nationally significant. The National Epitaxy Facility at the University of Sheffield provides molecular beam epitaxy and metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy of III-V compound semiconductor structures for users across the UK, and Sheffield's cleanroom infrastructure supports device processing on those materials.
Company-scale manufacturing is concentrated in detector devices and advanced packaging rather than in wafer fabrication. There is no volume silicon fab in the region and none is claimed here.
Universities and research
The University of Sheffield is the cluster's anchor, hosting the National Epitaxy Facility and a long-standing semiconductor device research base from which several of the recorded companies were spun out. The University of Leeds contributes through the Bragg Centre for Materials Research and its terahertz and photonics work, and York adds electronics and design capability.
The relationship between facility, research group and spinout is unusually direct in this cluster: several published companies in our index depend on epitaxial material or device processing developed within the same universities.
Investment and programmes
Investment has come through research council funding of the national epitaxy and materials facilities, and through venture rounds into the cluster's detector, IP and photonics spinouts.
The 2023 National Semiconductor Strategy's compound semiconductor and research infrastructure priorities apply directly to the epitaxy capability here, and the UK Semiconductor Centre announced in 2025 provides the national coordination route for scale-up.
Cluster and industry organisations
National Epitaxy Facility
University of Sheffield facility supplying compound semiconductor epitaxial wafers and structures to UK academic and industrial users.
Bragg Centre for Materials Research
University of Leeds materials research centre covering electronic and photonic materials.
UK Semiconductor Centre
National coordination point for scale-up support and international engagement.
How this cluster fits the UK sector
Yorkshire's importance to the UK sector is disproportionate to its size because of the national epitaxy capability held in Sheffield, which supplies material used by companies and researchers in other clusters.
Its company base is small and overwhelmingly dedicated rather than diversified, characteristic of a cluster grown from university spinouts rather than from inherited manufacturing.
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.
University of Sheffield
National Epitaxy FacilityUniversity of Leeds
Bragg Centre for Materials ResearchDepartment for Science, Innovation and Technology
National Semiconductor Strategy
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.