UK Semiconductor Centre will be based in London
The UK Semiconductor Centre has moved into its next phase of mobilisation with the announcement of its newly formed Interim Steering Group.
The Group has agreed that the location of the UK Semiconductor Centre office will be in the Knowledge Quarter of Kings Cross, London – an internationally accessible location with strong transport links.
The UK Semiconductor Centre team will be geographically distributed across the UK to support clusters and regions. A permanent steering group will be recruited in 2026.
Backed by at least £19 million in government funding, the Centre will serve as a national independent hub to accelerate growth and innovation in the industry. The aim is to provide a single gateway for international collaboration, making it easier for global firms and governments to connect with the UK industry and explore new partnerships.
The Interim Steering Group, co-chaired by Jonathan Flint, chair of CSA Catapult’s board and Jalal Bagherli co-chair of UK Semiconductor Advisory Pane, is made up of leading experts from across industry and academia. They will guide the development and strategic direction of the centre.
The group will ensure the centre’s activities are closely aligned with sector priorities and that there is an ongoing dialogue with industry and academia.
The members of the Interim Steering Group are: Jalal Bagherli - chairman, PTSL, chair, Nanoco technologies, co-chair of UK Semiconductor Advisory Panel; Jonathan Flint – chair of CSA Catapult and chair of Oxford Technical Services; Nick McKeown - professor dmeritus in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science departments at Stanford University, visiting professor at Oxford University, board member of ARIA; Jillian Hughes – head of Semiconductors, Techworks ; Sean Redmond – president, Silicon Catalyst Europe; and Jutta Meier –CEO and CFO, IQE plc.
Raj Gawera has been appointed as chief operating officer (COO) of the UK Semiconductor Centre, bringing a wealth of experience from his extensive career in the semiconductor industry.
In his role as VP and managing director at Samsung Semiconductor (Cambridge and Denmark), he led silicon and software development for the company’s connectivity solutions, overseeing several European development centres whose technologies now feature in hundreds of millions of devices worldwide.
Gawera also played a pioneering role in mobile technology, helping demonstrate one of the first 3G video calls in 1998 and co-founding UbiNetics, a 3G technology company. He later joined Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) as VP of marketing, driving the handset business which supplied connectivity chips into tier 1 OEMs.
He also brings board level experience having served as the chair of the board for Cambridge Wireless and, more recently, appointed as a non-executive director of CSA Catapult in 2021.
Gawera will be responsible for accelerating the centre’s impact across its five core missions: creating stronger global partnerships and greater inward investment; scaling-up UK semiconductor companies; creating a connected and more visible UK ecosystem; aligning industry and academia behind a strategic semiconductor roadmap; and developing the skilled workforce for the industry.
