Chips now sit in the same sentence as missiles and secure radios. That is the pitch of a new paper from the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for Semiconductors, ‘Defence and National Security: Delivering a Sovereign Semiconductor Capability’, launched at a Parliament reception on Tuesday 15 September 2026.
Its argument is that growing geopolitical uncertainty and strained global supply chains are turning secure access to trusted semiconductor technology into a national security priority. Semiconductors sit under secure communications, intelligence systems, advanced sensing, electronic warfare and AI-enabled systems. The paper says the UK’s future defence and security capabilities will depend more and more on that access.
What the paper recommends
It points to British strengths in compound semiconductors, photonics and chip design. Its recommendations cover strengthening sovereign capability, making supply chains more resilient, addressing skills shortages and bringing defence, industrial and semiconductor policy into line. Treating semiconductors as strategic national infrastructure, and investing in the sovereign capabilities behind them, will be critical to security, resilience and long-term growth, it says.
Who was in the room
Ruth Jones MP, who chairs the APPG, spoke alongside Stephen Kinnock, Secretary of State for Wales; Luke Pollard, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry; and Kanishka Narayan, Minister for Artificial Intelligence. Drew Nelson OBE, who chairs the group’s Advisory Board, and Antony Calvert, managing director of CalComms, which runs the APPG’s secretariat, also addressed the guests.
Gurinder Singh Josan MP, the APPG’s vice-chair, attended, as did Rebecca Smith, Dave Robertson, Jessica Morden, Saqib Bhatti, Lincoln Jopp and Navendu Mishra. Industry and research bodies represented included NetZero Semiconductors, CSconnected, Vishay Intertechnology, KLA, Oxford Instruments, Octric Semiconductors, Microwave Inspection Technologies, the University of Cambridge, the National Epitaxy Facility, Swansea University, MBDA and Leonardo. Many had helped shape the paper.
Speakers called the sector a critical enabler of economic growth, technological leadership, defence capability and national resilience. Ministers stressed the growing part chips play in defence and security as geopolitical competition sharpens.
The APPG says plans are already under way for more events, international visits and further papers on the opportunities and challenges facing the UK semiconductor sector.
Sources
- Parliamentary Reception Marks Launch of Defence and National Security Semiconductor Paper – Semiconductor Digest
- Back in Parliament the APPG shines a spotlight on Unlocking UK Growth
