The pressures on UK semiconductor startups are immense. A weakening presence in chip design in the UK coupled with a lack of readily available funding means startups like Forefront RF are placing faith in the strength of their technology and expertise in communicating its value to less tech-savvy investors.
In an article penned by the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) and authored by Christopher Cytera, the headline was titled: “British Semiconductors – Not Dead Yet!” Cytera wrote that the UK has 171 homegrown tech unicorns, 16 of which are semiconductor unicorns, but unclear UK policy, challenges with access to venture capital and skill gaps, have resulted in an extremely challenging environment.
To mitigate these challenges, he recommended improving funding to dissuade startups from moving abroad where they might find an easier funding environment, extending tax breaks, and creating a fund for semiconductor scale-ups, to name a few.
And in a separate interview, Charles Sturman, CEO of TechWorks, stressed the importance of supporting a fading industry before it disappeared completely.
None of this is, perhaps, new or unknown to the industry. But to gauge what the experience is really like for a fabless semiconductor company, I spoke to Ronald Wilting, CEO of Forefront RF, based in Cambridge, UK.
Communicating the value of technology
A background in electro-engineering and business-oriented mindset has stood Wilting in good stead to steer a fabless semiconductor startup operating out of the UK.
His laudable background – which spans working in circuit design, product development, as one of the lead designers of the Bluetooth headset, as well as working with global companies like TSMC, IBM, and Intel, and for tech startups – has meant he is well positioned and familiar with navigating the tech landscape.
Wilting was appointed CEO in June 2022, following a period as a Strategic Advisor. Its Founder and CTO, Leo Laughlin, set up the company in 2020 after conceiving the idea for its technology, Foretune: an RF Front-End Control Interface (RFFE) module that integrates a power amplifier, low-noise amplifier, coupler, and tunable duplexer to allow a smartphone to switch between frequency bands without the need for region-specific smartphones with multiple fixed frequency filters.
But to borrow from Wilting’s sage advice, communicating this to the less technical means explaining the value of having, in essence, a ‘global’ smartphone – one that would switch between frequency bands worldwide with ease.
Forefront’s technology not only means smartphones could have fewer components, reduce complexity in RF design and associated cost for smartphone manufacturers, but, Wilting pointed out, would encourage a thriving secondhand market.
“It will be beneficial for Apple [and other smartphone manufacturers] if they can buy a phone back in the Netherlands and sell it on to India or Parkistan, instead of only being able to sell it in Europe,” he said. “The secondhand market all of a sudden becomes global because you’re not limited to any regional demand anymore.”
In theory, creating technology that yields a whole host of benefits is attractive, but the development of the technology has presented its own challenges from a technical standpoint. Currently, the company is in the prototyping stage and expects to launch in 2026.
This is also compounded by the UK’s declining position in fabless chip design, of which Wilting was candid.
“There is no test facility or anything companies can use for deep analysis,” he said. “If I compare that with the facilities that we, for instance, have in the Netherlands, where we have much more of a focus on design. With companies like Philips and NXP in the area, there are prototyping facilities around the corner.”
By way of contrast, there are no prototyping or production lines in Cambridge, where Forefront RF operates from.
“Cambridge is really good at innovation and developing patents, but a patent you can’t sell,” said Wilting. “Other areas, like when we’re talking about, for instance, Stockholm … Eindhoven … Munich, they are way more into product development.”
A challenging funding environment
A 2% chance of getting a UK Innovation grant cited by Wilting offers a glimpse at the scale of the issue: getting funding, for UK semiconductor startups, is extremely challenging.
The UK has shown itself to be a region that excels in coming up with innovative ideas, but struggles to commercialise them and scale up because of a lack of investment. This could have the knock-on effect of driving homegrown startups out of the UK, and towards countries that are much more attractive investment wise.
“That’s a question we’ve had,” said Wilting. “Why don’t we go abroad?”
Forefront RF raised $16 million in November 2024, which led to Wilting being asked questions by fellow tech startup founders, who wanted to know his ‘secret’ – in other words, a pre-existing tough funding environment is affecting all startups, not just those in the semiconductor space. It also varies from region to region too.
Research from Dealroom found that in 2024, 57% of global venture capital went into US startups, compared with 4.8% funding for UK startups in the same period.
“The biggest risk is still funding,” said Wilting. “We will be reliant on funding from outside of the UK and potentially outside of the EU.”
Wilting attributed his ability to translate the story of the company into one that could be understood to attract funding, regardless of the investor being spoken to, and his own storied career.
“There’s a different kind of trust that’s being placed in me from the investors,” he said. “They looked at me and said, ‘Well, we have somebody who’s a bit more senior, who’s done this a couple of times, who knows how to sell, and knows these markets’. If I was fresh out of university, I don’t think we would have got the money.”
Take home messages
Witling’s take home message was that more needed to be done for the UK to be competitive globally, and this is intrinsically linked with supporting smaller companies.
Building prototyping and production lines would support product development, create the necessary infrastructure, and support more jobs – which Wilting noted was a further challenge, recruiting UK engineers.
“When I look at finding staff, especially in the analogue and RF domain, I need to recruit them globally, because they’re there,” he said.
Following the example of other countries like Taiwan, which adopts pro-business policies like not charging VAT for companies that operate out of certain industrial parks, would also help.
“If I need to get a part from inside the UK, I need to pay VAT,” said Wilting. “So that’s stacking and stacking of VAT on every part, which is making it more costly.”
Fundamentally – as is the case with every tech startup – finding the right people with expertise and nurturing them, will be the foundation for semiconductor startups.
“You have to focus on the things you do have control over and get the things done that you need to get done,” concluded Wilting.
