The UK's plan to invest £1bn into its semiconductor industry over the next decade has been branded "quite frankly flacid" by industry bosses.

Rishi Sunak, who launched his long-awaited semiconductor strategy at the G7 Summit in Japan, said boosting the sector "will grow our economy, create new jobs and [help the UK] stay at the forefront of new technological breakthroughs".

However, the plan was described as "insignificant" compared to support announced by the US and the EU in recent months of $50bn (£40bn) and €43bn (£37bn) respectively to spur manufacturing.

The Government said the investment will expand the domestic sector, protect national security and mitigate the risk of supply chain disruptions. However, the silicon chips most critical to day-to-day applications will still come from overseas — particularly from Taiwan, home to the world's leading supplier of chips.

The UK's total 10-year funding commitment is less than what the world's leading chip foundry company Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing spends every two weeks.

Sr Simon Thomas, chief executive of British graphene semiconductor start-up Paragraf told the BBC the announcement was "quite frankly flacid".

He said: "It is a long way from addressing the needs of UK chipmakers."

Garner consultant Gaurav Gupta said the £1bn was "insignificant" if the goal was to create a British company able to compete with the likes of Nvidia, Qualcomm, Broadcom and AMD.

IQE chief financial officer Tim Pullen said on Radio 4's Today programme the strategy "is definitely stepping us in the right direction" but companies like his "need to work very closely with the Government as we now move to the execution phase".

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