As the world becomes more interconnected, it’s tempting to assume globalisation alone can deliver resilience, efficiency, and innovation, says Dana Williams, Project & Operations Manager, Welsh Automotive Forum in a newsletter to members before the annual Autolink network meeting in Cardiff on 13 May.
And while international collaboration will always play a pivotal role in modern manufacturing, recent years have exposed the inherent vulnerabilities of over-reliance on extended global supply chains, particularly in precision-led sectors like automotive, where lead time, quality assurance, and operational continuity are critical.
That’s why it’s time to talk seriously about sovereign supply chains—and why Wales must lead in developing and securing ours.
This isn’t a call for isolationism, but for strategic self-sufficiency. It’s about ensuring that the foundational technologies shaping the next generation of mobility are not wholly dependent on global shipping routes, geopolitical decisions, or manufacturing capacities thousands of miles away.
Consider semiconductors. Wales is already home to one of Europe’s most advanced compound semiconductor clusters, centred in Newport. We’ve begun mapping the full semiconductor supply chain, from wafer fabrication and die processing through to final module integration. But one challenge persists..
While we can trace what is fabricated in Wales, we often lose sight of what happens after those devices leave our borders.
Take, for instance, the power control modules central to electric vehicle drivetrains and battery management systems. These modules rely on high-performance semiconductors, often wide bandgap materials such as SiC or GaN, to manage real-time data from across the vehicle and make sub-millisecond decisions on power delivery, thermal load balancing, and energy efficiency. In many cases, unpackaged dies from Wales are exported to Asia for assembly and packaging, where they are encapsulated, bonded, and mounted onto substrates to form integrated power modules. These assemblies are then shipped again, perhaps to Europe or North America, for final system integration by Tier 1 suppliers.
Only a limited number of global players have end-to-end capability in high-reliability, automotive-grade power electronics. But crucially, elements of that capability, such as advanced substrate manufacturing, die-attach processes, thermal interface design, and system-level testing, already exist here in Wales and the wider UK. What’s missing is the orchestration: aligning our capabilities across the value chain and scaling them to meet demand.
We don’t need to compete with Asia on high-volume production of general-purpose chips, that’s not our niche.
But we can excel in building a sovereign, high-value supply chain focused on low- to mid-volume, application-specific modules where performance, quality, traceability, and supply security matter as much as cost.
Automotive, commercial, and off-road vehicle companies headquartered here in the UK, aren’t just advancing Net Zero technologies—they’re redefining what high-performance, driver-focused vehicles can deliver. They require precision-engineered, rapidly customisable systems, and a supply base that can iterate, validate, and integrate locally. Wales has the technical base, the R&D infrastructure, and the collaborative ecosystem to deliver just that.
From advanced materials and compound semiconductors to chassis systems, control software, and electronics integration, Wales already plays a role in nearly every facet of modern vehicle development.
The missing piece is control, ownership, not just of IP, but of the capability to design, assemble, test, and supply critical subsystems domestically.
Developing a sovereign supply chain isn’t about closing off from global markets. It’s about retaining key strategic capabilities. It’s about ensuring that when the next global shock hits—be it pandemic, political unrest, or logistics disruption—we have capabilities that we can scale to remain operational, innovative, and competitive.
It’s also about attracting strategic investment, fostering next-gen skills, and anchoring long-term value creation in communities across Wales.
