A funding injection set to expand NMIS’s semiconductor manufacturing capabilities to create UK centre for advanced packaging. The National Advanced Semiconductor Packaging and Integration Centre is expected to support 300 jobs and generate £800 million in additional revenue for businesses.
Led by the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS), the new centre will form part of the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Net Zero Innovation Centre (ANZIC) in Renfrewshire. It will support UK and international customers with lab-to-scale packaging of semiconductor components for critical applications.
The National Advanced Semiconductor Packaging and Integration Centre (NASPIC) builds on a previous £8 million grant from Innovate UK for advanced packaging in power electronics. It responds to the accelerating need for semiconductor innovation to support next-generation technologies, from AI to photonics, as packaging capabilities struggle to keep pace with demand.
A potential £29 million investment from GCRIZ will fund new facilities to deliver complex, high-value solutions that are in short supply. Today, many wafer manufacturers are forced to offshore semiconductor packaging, resulting in long lead times and limited supply chain resilience.
In a first for Europe, the new facility will enable faster development of semiconductor devices, reducing packaging lead times from months to days, while keeping production within the UK and helping to mitigate geopolitical risk. State-of-the-art equipment will allow partners to prepare and dice wafers, mount and connect devices, conduct testing, and seal devices in the final package.
The investment will also see the current cleanroom double in size, enabling further research and scale-up in critical areas such as AI, quantum computing, photonics, and advanced Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductors (CMOS), adding to NMIS’s existing capability in power electronics. The centre is expected to create 300 new jobs and unlock an estimated £800 million in additional revenue for UK and international businesses.
Professor Matt Boyle, Director of Electrification at NMIS, said: “This latest funding boost underlines NMIS’s commitment to becoming a world-leading centre for advanced manufacturing in these critical technologies. NASPIC will support companies looking to bring manufacturing in-house and reduce their reliance on overseas supply chains. With access to the broader expertise at the University of Strathclyde, the centre will offer a wafer-to-systems integration capability.”
Professor Sir Jim McDonald, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde and Chair of the NMIS Board, said: “The development of the National Advanced Semiconductor Packaging and Integration Centre reflects Strathclyde’s scientific and technological strengths and our longstanding commitment to industrial innovation and research that delivers real-world impact. This is a strategically important capability for the UK, enhancing our competitiveness, strengthening supply chains, and opening up new opportunities in high-growth sectors such as AI, quantum, and photonics.”
