Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast BritChips

There is an English proverb attributed to 14th century poet and writer Geoffrey Chaucer that reads, 'Mighty oaks from little acorns grow'.

Here's my version.

'A mighty arm from a little acorn grew.'

Hold onto that thought.

If you didn't know Stan Boland and looked him up on LinkedIn, you'd read that he is an Investor and Advisor.

If you do know him, you might say that is a bit of an understatement.

Boland led the team responsible for the separation of what became the UK's most successful semiconductor design company, Arm, from troubled set-top box and PC manufacturer, Acorn, for which he was CEO.

(See what I did there?)

That was a bit of a career change for a guy who had spent his formative years running foreign exchange trading for aero engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce and then as Group Treasurer for what was at the time the UK's flagship mainframe computer manufacturer, ICL.

That was merely the start of Boland's illustrious career in the UK semiconductor industry

Over the next twenty-five years, Boland founded, led, scaled and sold globally successful UK chip companies, joined other UK tech startups as CEO, chaired a deep tech industry trade association, and now sits on the board of yet another a UK startup that has the potential to give Nvidia a good run for its money!

Yet he's still much younger than me!

All I can say is find a comfy chair, kick off your shoes, lay back and spend the next hour or so listening in awe to Stan Boland tell his story.

Quantum computers like it cold. Very cold indeed. We're talking about temperatures close to absolute zero (-273.15°C)

However, off-the-shelf electronics subsystems that connect them to the outside world do not like it anywhere near as cold. Typically, about -40°C is as cool as they go.

Which means that the electronics have to sit outside the cryogenic environment, connected to the quantum computer with hundreds, if not thousands, of wires depending on the size of the computer.

The problem is, these wires carry heat which is detrimental to the cryogenic environment.

Belfast-born Robert Graham leads the team at University of Glasgow spinout, Kelvin Quantum, which designs ultra-low temperature interface systems that sit in the same cryogenic environment as a quantum computer and connect directly to the outside world with just four wires.

Kelvin Quantum is one of the start-ups selected for the third cohort of the Government-sponsored ChipStartUK programme, managed by incubator Silicon Catalyst.UK.

In this podcast, Robert explains how he was invited to lead the quantum computing project at the University of Glasgow and manage the spin-out process to a successful conclusion.

Robert describes the challenges the team faced in modelling and testing their designs in the absence of tool kits suitable for cryogenic semiconductor systems, and the many potential use cases beyond quantum computing.

There's so much to learn from Robert's efforts to commercialise leading-edge technology designed to be used in the most unforgiving of environments. So get listening!

If anyone should be known as the godfather of the Brazilian semiconductor industry, my vote would go to Brazil-born tech industry veteran Julio Leão da Silva Jr (or simply, Julio Leão). But he would be too modest to accept.

Julio is Director of Engineering - Design Services BU & Brazil Design Centre Director at Abingdon-based, AIM-listed 'fabless' semiconductor design and supply start-up (and now scale-up) EnSilica. Basically, he founded and now runs EnSilica's operations in Brazil.

How that came to pass is as much a story about the on-again, off-again, and now on-again development of the Brazilian semiconductor industry (yes, it does exist!) as it is about a shrewd move (and a modicum of serendipity) by EnSilica cofounder and CEO, Ian Lankshear, who grabbed the opportunity to hire Julio and his colleagues when political winds in Brazil forced the closure of the country's former state-owned semiconductor company, CEITEC.

In this BritChips podcast, Julio explains how, armed only with a 15-slide pitch deck, he led the mission to find new careers for the 35 semiconductor engineers about to lose their jobs at CEITEC, and why the timing was so propitious for EnSilica.

Who knows, perhaps this will prompt other UK semiconductor start-ups to consider opening design centres in Brazil.

But first they'd need to find themselves a godfather!

How do you squeeze a quart into a pint pot?

This is one of the fundamental problems facing semiconductor designers when trying to squeeze more circuits onto a chip.

It's a particular challenge for processor chip designers because they need to locate high-speed cache memory circuits very close to the logic circuits.

And the more powerful and faster the processor, the more cache you need. So space on the chip can really become a problem.

Catriona Wright and Kauser Johar are the founders of Chipletti, one of the UK semiconductor startups selected for the third cohort of the Government-sponsored ChipStartUK programme, managed by incubator Silicon Catalyst.UK.

Chipletti is developing a new way to stack memory chips on top of core logic chips, with the potential to improve performance without increasing chip area or power consumption.

In this BritChips podcast, Catriona and Kauser explain why they left great jobs at a high profile UK quantum computing startup to build their own semiconductor business from square one.

And it's not just about the technology. You'll also hear about the challenges involved in filing patents to protect their IP, and how they sought funding from angel investors to help launch the startup.

There's much here for anyone in the semiconductor startup scene to learn from Catriona’s and Kauser’s hard graft.

How can you tell if the seemingly crystal-clear waters of a fish farm are not hiding traces of chemicals that could harm marine life?

University of Edinburgh spinout, Kāhu SiliconBio, is developing biosensor technology capable of detecting and measuring trace chemicals in liquids in real time and at point of use.

The technology is a unique melding of biotech and electronics, which can ‘eavesdrop’ on the metabolic processes of live bacteria, and reengineer them to respond to different chemicals.

New Zealand-born Dr James Flewellen leads Kāhu SiliconBio, one of the UK semiconductor startups selected for the third cohort of the Government-sponsored ChipStartUK programme, managed by incubator Silicon Catalyst.UK.

In this podcast, James describes how he got involved with the project he now leads, with the aim of commercialising the technology to make it as easy to use as a digital thermometer.

Indeed, while Kahu SiliconBio’s initial focus is on the aquaculture industry, the technology could equally be applied to the healthcare sector, detecting specific chemicals in liquids such as saliva and blood, instantly and on the spot.

So it’s not just about the price of fish!

“What we tell our startups is they need to start fast and stay fast – time is not their friend.”

This is the sage advice that Sean Redmond gives to founders and entrepreneurs that have been selected to participate in the Silicon Catalyst.UK accelerator and the ChipStartUK incubator.

Redmond is managing partner at Silicon Catalyst.UK, the UK arm of the eponymous US-based semiconductor incubator and accelerator, whose mission statement, ‘We accelerate semiconductor startups from PowerPoint to Prototype’ does precisely what it says on the tin.

Redmond has a rich history in the semiconductor industry. He’s undertaken executive roles in several semiconductor hardware and software companies as well as founding and leading his own test automation tool startup.

Redmond was approached by the Silicon Catalyst US team in 2021 to launch the incubator in the UK. In that role he was instrumental in advising the UK government on its flagship semiconductor strategy, launched in 2023, for which the first initiative was to launch an early-stage UK semiconductor incubator, called ChipStartUK, which Silicon Catakyst.UK manages.

ChipStartUK has been an astounding success. The twenty or so UK semiconductor startups that have graduated from the first two cohorts have already raised over $30m in venture capital and angel funding as a result of the initiative.

Redmond recently kicked off the third ChipStartUK cohort in what is now a 12-month programme. and the UK government has given approval – and funding – for at least a further three cohorts.

Today Redmond is one of the most influential people in the UK semiconductor startup scene with his boundless support of founders and entrepreneurs looking for a chance to launch their technology onto the world stage.

So if you are involved in a UK semiconductor-related startup – or aspire to become involved – whether as entrepreneur, investor, or partner, or if you simply care about the future of the UK semiconductor industry, then you must listen to this extended edition of the BritChips podcast with Sean Redmond as my guest.

Timings are approximate:

00:00 - Intro

00:35 - How KuasaSemi became a family affair

04:52 - Aquarius

10:55 - KuasaSemi's relationship with SMD

18:09 - Validating Aquarius

21:18 - How KuasaSemi got its name

21:56 - How KuasaSemi got involved with Silicon Catalyst

26:10 - Funding background

28:55 - Phil's role

30:26 - Who does the cooking and who does the washing up?

31:33 - Their advice to family founders

35:49 - Outro

Mahmoud Wagih was born in Egypt, freelanced as a graphic designer, studied in Malaysia, worked for ARM, had a research fellowship at Southampton University, and is now the founder and CEO of Glasgow-based wireless power startup, RX Watt.

How did all that happen?

In this podcast, Wagih explains how he met advisors while at university who believed in the commercial benefit of wireless power sensors and encouraged him to pursue development of the technology even though other startups had tried and failed.

To cut the long story short, RX Watt was spun out in October 2023 and earlier this year completed its first R&D contract showing how wireless power could enable battery-free sensors on rail carriages.

RX Watt has also been accepted into third cohort of the Government-sponsored ChipStartUK programme, managed by incubator Silicon Catalyst.UK.

Wagih’s advice on first steps?

“Get as much conversation going with external users that might validate your technology – or indeed tell you it's a bad idea”!

Wagih’s experience should be of vital interest to university academics who believe they have what it takes to become a tech entrepreneur and, of course, to anyone interested in the commercial potential of wireless power technology.

Here’s a handy mantra for any tech startup: “Let’s finish what we started”.

This was the advice Jonathan Reeves gave to the engineering team after joining Edinburgh-based underwater wireless tech start-up CSignum, originally as an investor and advisor.

As he puts it, tech startups have a tendency to ‘chase the shiny new thing’. What is needed, he says, is to, ‘take what you've got, polish it a little bit, finish it and see it through to the market’.

Now CSignum’s CEO (yet living in the US), Jonathan’s career is a fascinating story. In particular, his experience convincing VCs to invest in deep tech, along with his views on government incentives to encourage investment in startups, will be of great interest to founders and backers alike.

You can hear how Jonathan came to be involved with CSignum, and the background behind the recent £6m Series A funding round, in this edition of BritChips.

Award-winning tech industry analyst Anthony Miller chats with international electronics industry executive Noel McKenna about his experiences joining Glasgow/Edinburgh University biotech spin-out, Neuranics as CEO.

Welcome to my new podcast series BritChips - conversations with movers and shakers in the UK semiconductor startup scene.The first is with Noel McKenna, CEO at Glasgow-based biotech startup, Neuranics and you can listen to it exclusively here on Substack. There’ll be more conversations coming very soon and you can find them all in the BritChips section on Substack.