UK firms kick off negotiations at SEMICON Korea
Government programme opens doors to Korean interest in innovative chip technologies
British tech firms involved in compound semiconductors had meetings with South Korean corporations during SEMICON Korea in Seoul last week, as part of the UK Government-backed UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme. As a result, several are now engaged in commercial negotiations with potential Korean customers and partners.
These companies include Pragmatic, developer of a flexible integrated circuit platform using thin-film semiconductors; Oxford Instruments, which supplies scientific equipment; and QuInAs, a Lancaster University spin-out using compound semiconductors and quantum mechanics to produce a innovative universal memory which is ultra efficient in terms of power and speed.
Other participating companies – EpiValence, Moisture Control & Measurement (MCM) and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) – also enjoyed constructive initial discussions on which they plan to build in the coming months.
James Ashworth-Pook, Founder and CEO of QuInAs, said: “The UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme team provided an invaluable and effective service in facilitating key strategic meetings with companies in the Korean memory sector.”
Jeremy Shaw, head of the UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme at Intralink, said: “The thirst for UK technology in Korea was underlined by the response to the innovative technologies offered by all the UK companies we supported during SEMICON Korea. We look forward to helping many more UK tech scaleups realise their potential in the APAC region during 2024.”
The UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme, delivered by business development consultancy Intralink, provides support for UK firms to expand in 11 APAC markets: South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand. Intralink’s teams on the ground in APAC can identify participants’ business opportunities, provide market entry advice and help companies sell their products, forge partnerships and raise investment.
The programme – backed jointly by the Department for Business & Trade and Department for Science, Innovation & Technology initiative – is aimed at scaleups throughout the UK with significant international growth potential.
