At Pragmatic Park in Durham, a milestone in British semiconductor manufacturing was marked by the official opening of the nation’s first 300 mm fabrication line dedicated to flexible integrated circuits. The ceremony was led by HRH The Princess Royal, who toured the newly completed facility before unveiling a commemorative plaque. The foundry, operated by Pragmatic Semiconductor, represents a significant shift toward low-cost, sustainable electronics production.
Pragmatic Semiconductor, headquartered at Cambridge Science Park, has focused its innovation on FlexIC technology—ultra-thin integrated circuits that are less than the diameter of a human hair. These circuits can be invisibly embedded into everyday objects, enabling applications that conventional silicon chips cannot easily support. The company’s designs are tailored for rapid production cycles, allowing customers to move from concept to market with remarkable speed.
The potential applications of FlexICs span multiple sectors. In agriculture, they can monitor temperature and humidity to optimize crop yields. In healthcare, they enable continuous heart monitoring in wearable devices. Security systems can integrate them for precise motion detection, while logistics can track goods with embedded intelligence at minimal cost. Because the chips are produced on a flexible substrate rather than rigid silicon wafers, they open possibilities for integration into curved, lightweight, or disposable products.
The Durham foundry occupies a 60,000 m² brownfield site and is designed for high-volume output at a fraction of the cost of traditional silicon manufacturing. Pragmatic’s process consumes less energy and water, and generates fewer emissions, aligning with broader industry goals for environmental responsibility. Its modular manufacturing approach also strengthens supply chain resilience, an increasingly critical factor in global electronics production.
David Moore, CEO of Pragmatic Semiconductor, hosted the event and guided HRH The Princess Royal through the cleanroom and production areas. The opening drew an audience of customers, ecosystem partners, investors, and government officials. Moore stated, “Today’s official opening marks a key milestone in Pragmatic’s growth trajectory and for the UK on the global semiconductor stage. I am incredibly proud of what the team has achieved and the ambition of our mission to enable item level intelligence in over a trillion sustainable, smart items over the next decade. Such intelligence at scale has the power to accelerate the digital transformation across industries. Sustainability is at the very core of our technology and extends to how FlexICs enable our customers to further drive innovations and pathways through their products and services towards global net zero goals.”
The opening was met with praise from industry stakeholders. Francisco Melo, president of the Solutions Group at Avery Dennison, an investor in Pragmatic, commented, “The opening of an advanced manufacturing chip facility is fantastic news for all technology innovators. Congratulations to Pragmatic on such an important and impressive achievement.”
Simon Little, banking and investments director at UK Infrastructure Bank and a Pragmatic board member, emphasized the role of domestic production: “The Bank invested in Pragmatic to support low-carbon domestic manufacturing of semiconductors in the UK. The official opening of Pragmatic Park in Durham marks a pivotal next step in its journey, and we look forward to seeing the long-term impact of our investment, as Pragmatic scales up its operation and creates highly skilled jobs here in the North-East.”
From the perspective of growth capital, Niranjan Sirdeshpande, global head of M&G’s Catalyst strategy and Pragmatic board member, said, “By providing growth equity to enterprising tech disruptors such as Pragmatic, M&G’s £5bn Catalyst strategy can help them to scale, provide expertise and partner with them all the way to success. Put to work in this way, patient capital can support economic growth and capture value for peoples’ pensions and savings as we transition to a more sustainable economy. We are proud to support Pragmatic’s work in Durham with tech advancement in this critical part of the UK’s national infrastructure.”
The facility is expected to create 500 highly skilled jobs over the next five years, reinforcing the UK’s position in advanced manufacturing. By combining flexible electronics with sustainable production methods, Pragmatic Semiconductor’s Durham foundry signals a new chapter in how semiconductors can be designed, produced, and deployed across industries.