Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult

The Semiconductor Catapult addresses a critical gap in the UK’s AI hardware and semiconductor infrastructure. Our key markets are AI infrastructure and defence. We support UK growth and deliver long-term economic benefit by helping semiconductor technologies move from concept to reality.

The global semiconductor market is large and growing. It was worth more than $630 billion in 2024 and could reach $1.07 trillion by 2035.

Semiconductors are a frontier technology*. They are foundational to modern economies, underpinning sectors including AI, communications, clean energy, transport and defence. That dependence is particularly visible in AI, where growth relies on increasingly advanced hardware to scale.

The UK already has a strong position in semiconductors, with UK-headquartered companies generating more than £4 billion in annual revenue and leading strengths in compound semiconductors, photonics and semiconductor design^.

This gives UK companies across the wider supply chain a clear opportunity, especially in our key global markets of AI hardware and defence. But great ideas developed here are too often manufactured, scaled and commercialised elsewhere.

Our mission is to accelerate semiconductor technologies from concept to reality, building supply chains that deliver long-term economic benefit to the UK.

* Source: UK Department for Business and Trade, The UK's Modern Industrial Strategy 2025 (2025)

^ Source: UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), Semiconductor Sector Study (2024).