Australia plans first national semiconductor roadmap

The Semiconductor Sector Service Bureau is leading the development of Australia's first National Semiconductor Roadmap, a 15-year plan to guide the sector.

The initiative aims to create a national framework for an industry that has lacked a coordinated strategy, even as governments in other markets have increased spending on semiconductor production and supply chains. It will bring together industry, government and researchers to identify Australia's existing strengths and remaining gaps.

Semiconductors are central to products and systems ranging from consumer electronics and vehicles to medical equipment, communications networks and renewable energy infrastructure. They are also becoming increasingly important in defence, artificial intelligence, and quantum technologies, where access to supply and local expertise are closely tied to industrial policy.

Australia's role in that landscape is less visible than that of larger manufacturing centres such as Taiwan, South Korea and the United States. But the organisations behind the roadmap argue that the country already has expertise across parts of the semiconductor supply chain, including research, materials and early-stage industrial activity, without a clear national picture of how those assets connect.

S3B, which describes itself as Australia's industry hub for semiconductors, says the roadmap will be industry-led and shaped by analysis and consultation. Due later this year, it is expected to outline options for policy, investment and sector development.

Associate Professor Tara Hamilton, director of S3B, said Australia now needed to decide how it wanted to position itself in the industry. "Australia is heavily dependent on global supply chains. Strengthening semiconductor capability is not just a sector issue. It is fundamental to the resilience and competitiveness of Australia's most important industries."

She said that without a shared direction, Australia risked missed investment, capability gaps and reduced sovereign resilience. "The Roadmap is the critical next step in supporting and growing the sector, safeguarding our technology industries, and enabling broader economic diversification."

Global push

The announcement follows several years in which semiconductors have moved higher up government agendas around the world. Supply disruptions during the pandemic exposed the vulnerability of industries that rely on chips, while geopolitical tensions sharpened concerns about production concentrated in a small number of locations.

More than USD $500 billion in public funding has been committed globally since the pandemic to strengthen semiconductor capability and supply chains, according to S3B. Those efforts include major programmes in the United States, the European Union, Japan, Korea, India and Singapore.

Australia has not matched those markets in scale, but the roadmap reflects broader concern that the country needs a clearer view of where it can compete and how it can reduce exposure to external shocks. It is also intended to give policymakers and investors a more coherent starting point for future decisions.

S3B will run an engagement process across the sector to ensure the roadmap reflects the breadth of Australia's semiconductor ecosystem. That process will also include industries that depend on semiconductors, not just organisations directly involved in chip-related work.

"Insights gathered from members and partners will inform the starting point for the Roadmap, ensuring the sector's voice is embedded from the outset. There will be further opportunities for the entire ecosystem, including key industry sectors that rely on semiconductors, to contribute and help establish a unified national direction," Hamilton said.

Advisory group

A strategic advisory group spanning industry, research, academia and government will help guide the work. Members include former Australian Chief Scientist Professor Cathy Foley and NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte.

The roadmap is being developed with support from the Rozetta Institute, which S3B describes as an independent, collaboration-focused innovation accelerator. S3B was established through the NSW Office of the Chief Scientist and Engineer and is hosted as a joint venture among the University of Sydney, Macquarie University, and the University of New South Wales.

Its wider consortium also includes CSIRO, the Australian National Fabrication Facility and industry participants across the semiconductor value chain. That structure reflects the fragmented nature of the domestic sector, where activity is spread across universities, fabrication facilities, materials research and smaller industrial players rather than concentrated in a single manufacturing base.

Professor David Skellern, board chair of S3B, said the work had implications beyond the sector itself. "Building sovereign semiconductor capability and secure, resilient supply chains is essential to Australia's national security and long-term economic prosperity."

"Australia has many of the foundations, including world-class research, critical materials, exceptional talent and an emerging industrial base, but we also need to scale capability and infrastructure to reduce reliance on global supply chains."

"The Roadmap will bring these strengths together under a clear national direction. It will position Australia to contribute meaningfully to a critical global industry, support industry growth, build enduring capability, and move us from vulnerability to resilience and from potential to purposeful action," Skellern said.