Manufacturer Pragmatic Semiconductor says it will create hundreds of highly skilled jobs after securing investment of more than £180m.
The Cambridge-based firm has a manufacturing facility in Durham, and says it will create 500 new jobs over the next few years across the two locations. That follows a $206m (£162m) investment round which saw it win backing from new investors including Northern Gritstone, Latitude and MVolution Partners, as well as existing investors such as British Patient Capital, Cambridge Innovation Capital and Prosperity7 Ventures. The company is also planning another investment round, in which £20m ($25m) additional investment has already been made.
The company said that its significantly lower carbon footprint compared to traditional silicon chip fabrication had attracted a number of investors. Growth plans will see it build two more manufacturing lines at its plant in Durham, each capable of producing billions of the microchips that are crucial to sectors across the economy
Read more:robotics firm chooses Sunderland for UK base
Go here for more North East business news
Pragmatic CEO David Moore said: “This successful Series D round is a clear testament to the massive opportunity for our innovative technology to enable item-level intelligence in virtually any object on the planet. Our global customers value our ultra-thin and flexible form factor, our breakthrough low cost of customisation and rapid production cycles, as well as the lower environmental footprint compared to silicon.
“Scaling our manufacturing capacity on the UK’s first ever 300mm wafer production lines at our site in Durham will enable us to deliver hundreds of billions of chips to customers worldwide over the coming decade.”
The company’s chairman Erik Langaker added: “In a challenging investment environment, this capital raise is a fantastic recognition of the strength of the company and the value of its unique technology. With this funding, Pragmatic will be able to scale its foundry capacity to produce billions of chips to meet the demand from global, blue-chip organisations that are developing innovative new use cases only possible because of Pragmatic’s flexible integrated circuits.”
John Flint, CEO of UK Infrastructure Bank, said: “The Bank has an important role to play in unlocking finance to scale up domestic supply chains, like semiconductors, which are critical to the UK’s transition to net zero.
“Our investment in Pragmatic backs a British business to accelerate development of a first-of-a-kind technology which not only cuts the carbon emissions of semiconductor production, but which will drive growth in the local economy in the North East.”
