Newport Wafer Fab decision highlights the importance of protecting our strategic technology assets
The government’s recent decision to block the sale of Britain’s largest semiconductor plant to a Chinese company should give us pause to reflect on the nation’s technology strategy as a whole.
At first glance, it might seem surprising that the sale of a chip factory in south Wales should attract the attention of the highest echelons of government. However, in the context of surging global demand for chips and concerns that global superpowers, namely China, are trying to wrest control of these strategic technologies, the decision to stall the sale is an important one.
We certainly should be alive to the risks of losing our stake in this part of the technology ecosystem. But we must think much more broadly. The issue at hand is not just one of chip and semiconductor manufacture. It is about protecting the raft of strategic technology assets that we have here in Britain. This is a matter of national importance, and not just for narrow British business interests. For all the media commentary about Newport Wafer Fab not being about ‘national security’ at all, when you look at the bigger picture, the link to strategic defence is quite clear.
I have commented before on the need to see certain technologies as a strategic asset. Take the example of Artificial Intelligence, which I think must rank as the most strategic technology of today. Three out of the top ten research universities in the world are based in the UK, putting Britain at the top tier for AI. But if we let the know-how dissipate across the world, we will be shooting ourselves in the foot. It’s not solely about the lost opportunity to commercialise this knowledge for the benefit of UK GDP. AI will be vitally important on the battlefield, so having your own AI technologies will be a huge advantage in the realm of defence and national sovereignty. We must start identifying these assets and thinking much more critically about what we protect and retain for the good of the UK.
The government is right to be looking to counter China’s conscious efforts to acquire western know-how. For example, we often see UK universities getting funding to host Chinese students. The university is very pleased because they get some money out of it. But it comes at the cost of an osmosis of key technological knowledge from the UK to China. Britain is displaying a degree of naivety here.
I sometimes hear the argument that China isn’t a natural home for technological innovation, that somehow the lack of personal freedom inhibits the creative genius required. There might be some truth in that, but the fact is China is producing increasingly sophisticated technologies. Returning to AI as an example, the quality of work coming from China is improving rapidly. We have to see this as a strategic issue and be strong enough to say that certain technologies are simply not worth giving away for the sake of some university funding or a short-term commercial boost.
The Newport Wafer Fab decision reflects the need for a much wider conversation about protecting UK technology companies and nurturing them until they are of a size and scale to list here in the UK, helping to retain the skills, the know-how and the strategic advantage the country needs to be a global tech superpower. We must start seeing key technologies as genuine strategic assets, ones of national importance that would be foolish to give up too easily. That focus needs to extend beyond our borders and be a conversation with our western allies, who, like Britain, must come up with a strategy to counter the risks of Chinese dominance.
Dr Mike Lynch OBE FREng FRS