Japan and UK semiconductor industries forming closer ties than ever

Global industry perspective by CEO Steinn Gustafsson in Japan with the InnovateUK GBIP

I was in Japan from the 9^th to the 13th December, as part of Innovate UK’s Global Business Innovation Program (GBIP) including attending the Semicon Japan exhibition from the 11-13^th December. We were also joined by our Japanese partner, Mish.

Chevin is establishing strategic alliances and partnerships with semiconductor manufacturers, design-houses and vendors in Japan. We were in Japan to further our relationships with existing partners but also to explore new opportunities in defence, automotive and scientific industries in Japan.

What was most apparent from this trip was the needs for UK and Japanese semiconductor and related industries to collaborate at a high, strategic, and even national level.

Japan has often been ahead of the curve in getting industries working together for the benefit of the nation. There are some exciting initiatives with even deeper strategic levels of collaboration: such as the LTSC (which was presenting its updates at Semicon). Rapidus too has very ambitious plans to achieve 2nm development by 2027 but apart from being formed by a conglomerate of 8 very large Japanese corporations (Denso, Kioxia, MUFG Bank, NEC, NTT, SoftBank, Sony, and Toyota), Rapidus is actively collaborating with international companies to achieve its ambitions.

This approach extends internationally through the proactivity of organisations such as JETRO. Japan does a very good job of forming strategic business and technological alliances to benefit local and global innovation as well as to open the doors to trade.

Our GBIP mission follows the 2023 Memorandum of Understanding between Innovate UK and Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) – to boost collaborative innovation in key technological areas such as semiconductors. And it was clear that UK and Japanese collaboration is now considered as a priority: we each have so much to offer the other.

Chevin Technology is already active in the global defence and aerospace, scientific, and medical markets with our existing Ethernet acceleration IP products, serving customers in Europe, US, Asia, Middle East and Africa.

But Japan has some very specific market and technological needs that make it very relevant to what we’re doing here at Chevin. In particular, the growing interest in our ChevinID solution for securing supply chains, makes it very relevant to the needs of Japan’s automotive and defence markets.

The Japanese car industry and the electronics industry in Japan are both investing heavily to ensure they have a full suite of measures to identify and tackle a rapidly changing landscape of cybersecurity threats.

Japan’s successful automotive and automotive semiconductor industries makes the country an ideal match for Chevin’s focus on securing silicon supply chains and both global and local growth in the markets means it needs to be taken seriously. GMInsights projects the global automotive semiconductor market to grow from USD 69bn (2023) to USD 180bn by 2032, with CAGR of 11%. Asia Pacific currently has greater than 35% market share.

Stringent safety standards and regulations mandated by governments globally drive the growth of the market. As regulatory bodies enforce increasingly rigorous safety, quality, and environmental standards, automotive manufacturers must comply to ensure their vehicles meet legal requirements. This includes stringent testing for crashworthiness, emissions, and electronic system reliability.
Source: Global Market Insights

Very prescient words from GMInsights and a theme I believe is particularly relevant in Japan given its constant global presence and leadership in the automotive market.

As Japan extends its collaborations, it’s clear that we will be working closely on more projects of strategic importance. We were proud to be part of the InnovateUK GBIP’s fact finding mission, and to meet so many contacts keen to engage.

A few words about Chevin Technology’s security solution

Chevin Technology’s silicon security solution addresses cybersecurity concerns within operational technology. Common vulnerabilities found in operational technology include insufficient authentication and access control, and weak authentication mechanisms which leave systems vulnerable to unauthorised access. Insecure communication protocols, lack of encryption and exposure to physical attacks require a multi layered security approach, strong authentication and access controls. ChevinID offers an additional layer of protection against malicious and accidental changes to Silicon Supply Chains.

ChevinID uses a patented hardware-based security solution embedded in silicon circuits such as FPGAs or ASICs. Being a hardware-based, ChevinID is not vulnerable to attack vectors commonly used against existing software security solutions, therefore resulting in a significantly reduced attack surface.