Andy McLean: Rapidus MoU Will Help British Innovators Access 2-nm Technology

The UK and Japan have entered into a strategic partnership to enhance the UK’s semiconductor manufacturing capabilities. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the UK Semiconductor Centre ... Read original →

The UK-Rapidus 2nm pact isn’t just about filling a fabrication gap—it’s redefining global semiconductor collaboration. Technically, it will catalyze integration of Britain’s strengths in silicon photonics and compound semiconductors with cutting-edge CMOS, accelerating AI and quantum control chip prototyping. Compliance-wise, leveraging Japan’s node—not U.S. or Taiwan, China—mitigates some export controls, yet EUV access remains bottlenecked by Wassenaar, raising R&D costs. Competitively, TSMC and Samsung may rush to establish European design hubs to retain UK clients, while NVIDIA could deepen IP ties with UKSC. Within 18 months, this MoU will spur ‘asymmetric alliances’: smaller nations bypassing fab construction by anchoring to one advanced foundry partner, forming a new ‘design-abroad-manufacture-local-test’ triad.