A £12m funding package has been officially granted by Economy Minister Edwina Hart to support the construction, fit-out, and purchase of capital equipment for Cardiff University’s Institute for Compound Semiconductors (ICS).

The ICS forms part of Cardiff University’s £300m investment in new research and innovation centres and is a key element of the wider strategy to create Europe’s fifth semiconductor cluster – and the only one dedicated to compound semiconductors.

£17.3m of Research Council Partnership Investment Funding has already been secured by Cardiff University to support the Institute which will work closely with industry and take academic research to the next level.

The Institute will complement the Joint Venture between Cardiff and IQE to create a Compound Semiconductor Centre (CSC) delivering commercial prototypes and pilot lines. CSC, to be formally launched at events in London (18 November) and Cardiff Castle, will be Europe’s first prototyping facility. It will link academic research to industrial exploitation allowing rapid routes to market for entrepreneurs and technology leaders.

Compound semiconductors are the key enabling technology driving advances in a host of areas ranging from wireless technology and smart phones to solar energy and the development of concentrated photovoltaic power stations; from healthcare for new imaging devices, diagnostics and wearable health products to transport and electric propulsion and regenerative breaking.