The UK government will provide direct taxpayer funding to support British semiconductor companies as part of a strategy for a sector that has become a lightning rod in global geopolitics, according to officials familiar with the plans. This will include seed money for startups, help for existing firms to scale up, as well as providing new incentives for private venture capital, the officials said. Ministers will set up a semiconductor task force to coordinate public and private support to ramp up UK manufacturing of compound semiconductors in the next three years, they added.