This funding, which was announced by Greg Clark, the Universities Minister, will be used to finance the UK’s very first Compound Semiconductor Research Foundation, which will be built at the University.
The Innovation Campus there is the planned location for this foundation, and the facility will focus on developing and testing the technology powering devices like tablets and smartphones, as well as driving innovation in the communications, biotechnology, and healthcare sectors.
This grant comes on top of the £12m that the Welsh Government has already committed towards the foundation, and is set to lead to the ties between Cardiff University and the city’s compound semiconductor wafer supply firm, IQE, being strengthened.
IQE’s CEO, Dr Drew Nelson, said:
"We welcome today’s announcement and look forward to playing a key role in helping to make Wales and the UK the new European powerhouse for next-generation semiconductor technologies.”
Once the new foundation is up and running at the University, it will be able to make use of similarly forward-thinking local businesses, such as firms providing digital printing in Cardiff.
The grant makes the foundation one of the seven projects based at UK universities to receive some of the more than £100m available from the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund in 2016/17.