UK Semiconductor Advisory Panel: Terms of Reference
Updated 6 November 2025
© Crown copyright 2025
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-semiconductor-advisory-panel-terms-of-reference/uk-semiconductor-advisory-panel-terms-of-reference
Context
Established by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the UK Semiconductor Advisory Panel provides a formal conduit for industry, academia and government to work closely together to deliver on the government’s strategic aims for the semiconductor sector. The Panel advises on growing the UK semiconductor sector, safeguarding the UK against supply chain disruption, and protecting the UK against the security risks arising from semiconductor technologies.
Objectives
The UK Semiconductor Advisory Panel aims to:
- Provide detailed feedback on industrial strategy, its implementation and effectiveness, as it relates to semiconductors, both at the meetings and between them.
- Promote industry and government initiatives that support the growth of the UK semiconductor sector and provide advice on how government and industry can better work together, when those opportunities arise.
- Ensure government responds to recommendations and feedback from the Panel and wider semiconductor industry, using the meetings as key touch points to monitor actions and recommendations.
- Identify issues in a timely manner that could affect the UK semiconductor industry, whether that is policy specific or due to conflicts or unrealised synergies between government policy.
Membership
The Semiconductor Advisory Panel is made up of a ministerial co-chair, an industry co-chair, and a small group of core panel members. When selecting the Panel, the co-chairs considered representation across the semiconductor supply chain, UK domestic strengths, geographical location and company size. Members have been invited to join the Panel in their personal capacity and not to act on behalf of any organisation they are affiliated with. Additional experts will be invited to contribute on areas of their expertise on an ad-hoc basis.
Members of the UK Semiconductor Advisory Panel are:
- (Panel Co-Chair) Minister Kanishka Narayan - Minister for AI and Online Safety
- (Panel Co-Chair) Dr Jalal Bagherli CBE - Chairman, PTSL; Chair, Nanoco technologies Plc
- Janet Collyer MBE - Chair, Quantum Dice and Machine Discovery; Senior Independent Director, EnSilica; Independent NED, Aerospace Technology Institute
- Professor. John Goodenough - Chair in Microelectronic Systems, University of Sheffield
- Richard Grisenthwaite - Executive VP and Chief Architect, Arm
- Dr Andy Sellars Director of Strategy at CORNERSTONE, University of Southampton
- Scott White - Executive Director, Pragmatic Semiconductor
- Jen Walls – CEO, Clas-SiC Wafer Fab Ltd
- Jutta Meier - CEO and CFO, IQE
- Pete Magowan – Board Member, Filtronic; NED, Solid State PLC
- Andrew Evans – Senior Director, KLA
- Rebecca Dobson – Corporate VP for EMEA, Cadence Design Systems
- Professor Rachel Oliver OBE - Professor of Materials Science at University of Cambridge; Co-Founder, Porotech
Approach
The co-chairs and Panel members will use their experience and contacts as leverage to bring wider stakeholders together to accelerate and increase the impact of existing and future interventions in support of government strategic goals for the semiconductor sector.
Meetings will address progress made against the government’s semiconductor objectives. In addition, each meeting will focus on a topic of importance to the UK semiconductor sector and the aims of the government. These may include:
- Skills and the talent pipeline
- UK semiconductor infrastructure
- R&D roadmapping
- Support for semiconductor manufacturing
- International collaboration (inc. R&D partnerships and supply chains)
- Access to finance
- Spin-out and start-up ecosystem
- Growth stage / scale-up ecosystem
- Supply chain resilience & transparency
- Hardware security (inc. RISC-V and DSbD)
Governance
The co-chairs are jointly responsible for the delivery of the Semiconductor Advisory Panel. The co-chairs will be supported by a secretariat based in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. The secretariat will be responsible for arranging meetings, circulating papers and recording minutes.
The secretariat will be overseen by a senior civil servant (Deputy Director) with responsibility for ensuring the co-chairs and members of the Panel have the resources needed, and that the meetings are run effectively.
Agendas and papers will be circulated at least 3 working days in advance of meetings. Minutes will be circulated and agreed within 2 weeks of meetings.
Process
The Panel will convene in-person approximately once every quarter. These meetings will take place in London and in regional semiconductor clusters where possible. Additional ad-hoc meetings on particular, time-sensitive, issues may also be called.
The secretariat will monitor the effectiveness of the Panel in meeting its intended objectives and will regularly review with the co-chairs whether there is a need to make changes to the structure, frequency and purpose of the meetings.
The Panel will run for 18 month terms, with the Ministerial co-chair deciding whether the Panel should be renewed for further terms.
Minutes
Find minutes of each meeting published for Semiconductor Advisory Panel.