Welcome to SiliconCatalyst.AU, the newest expansion of Silicon Catalyst into the Asia-Pacific region, dedicated to empowering early-stage semiconductor and quantum startups across Australia.
As part of our growing global network, we are proud to bring to Australia the proven Silicon Catalyst incubation model. Through our partnership ecosystem, participating startups gain no-cost or reduced cost access to advanced electronic design automation (EDA) tools, design IP, and cutting-edge foundry prototyping, as well as strategic guidance from world-class semiconductor executives.
We are building on the outstanding success of SiliconCatalyst.UK, where the first two cohorts of ChipStart UK companies have collectively raised over €40M in venture capital and angel funding.
Silicon Catalyst recently held it's 7th Annual Semiconductor Industry Forum at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Silicon Catalyst represents Australia's direct link to Silicon Valley and semiconductor innovation through Silicon Catalyst's broad and expansive ecosystem.
On-the-Road to a $1 Trillion Industry
Reaching $1 trillion in annual semiconductor sales by 2030 presents both significant challenges and offers compelling opportunities. Demand is accelerating, driven by AI, automotive, data centers, and IoT - but scaling to meet this demand requires massive investments in manufacturing capacity, talent, and R&D.
The global supply chain must become more resilient and geographically diversified, especially amid export control and tariffs. Advanced nodes, chiplets, and new materials promise performance gains but add design and integration complexity. Sustainability is another growing concern, with energy consumption and water usage drawing regulatory and public scrutiny.
Yet, the pathway to $1 trillion is feasible. Public-private partnerships, continued innovation, and strong end-market growth can unlock the next era of expansion. Strategic collaboration across the ecosystem—from startups to foundries—will be essential. Companies that adapt quickly and invest wisely will help shape a more connected, intelligent, and prosperous future for the semiconductor industry.
illustrious speakers included:
Moderator: David French, Board Member, Silicon Catalyst
Panel Members:
Ann Kelleher, Executive VP & GM (retired) Technology Development, at Intel
Ravi Subramanian, Chief Product Management Officer at Synopsys
Ralph Wittig, Corporate Fellow, CVP Head of Research & Advanced Development, AMD
About the Forum
The Silicon Catalyst Semiconductor Industry Forum was launched in 2018. The Forum’s charter is to enable a town-hall like event to discuss the broad impact of semiconductors on our world, beyond the traditional focus on technology, financial reviews and industry business forecasts.
Silicon Catalyst Australia Pty Ltd, supported by our founding and strategic partner for QLD – the Queensland Venture Capital Development Fund managed by Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) – along with local innovation and industry partners in other states, is now launching ChipStart AU - a one-year early-stage incubation program open to Semiconductor and Quantum startups across Australia and New Zealand. This includes any startup doing a custom semiconductor or quantum development for all types of end markets including Space, Defense, Medtech, Agtech, etc.
Your leadership team will join an intensive semiconductor industry acceleration program designed to prepare you for investment readiness, connect you with global industry customers, partners and mentors, and provide access to a local experienced expert advisor who will work alongside you throughout your journey.
Join us as we help build the next generation of semiconductor innovators from the Asia-Pacific region powered by Silicon Catalyst.
If you are an early-stage AU company and would like to join the ChipStart AU Accelerator, click the button below.
If you are interested in learning more about the Silicon Catalyst Incubator, click the button below.
Silicon Catalyst Expands to Australia Partnering with the Queensland Venture Capital Development Fund: Building a Bridge from Australia to Silicon Valley
Santa Clara, California and Brisbane, Queensland Australia, October 31, 2025
Silicon Catalyst, the only accelerator focused on the global semiconductor industry, announced today the launch of SiliconCatalyst.AU and ChipStart AU. Silicon Catalyst’s proven model to fast-track startup innovation globally is porting its platform locally to the Australian start-up community with the mission to help semiconductor hardware start-ups succeed. Australia joins a string of countries and regions including the UK, the EU, Israel, and Japan, expanding Silicon Catalyst’s global footprint. The ecosystem that Silicon Catalyst has created lowers the capital expenses associated with the design and fabrication of silicon-based integrated circuits (ICs), sensors, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices by providing advanced design tools and services from a comprehensive network of In-Kind Partners (IKPs). The startup Portfolio Companies in the Accelerator leverage IKP tools and services, including design tools, simulation software, design services, foundry PDK access and MPW runs, test program development, tester access, banking and legal services. The world-class Silicon Catalyst network of advisors and investors further facilitates their journey from idea through prototype toward volume production.
ChipStart is a global pre-seed “startup recipe” which accelerates founder’s time to product and market, going from idea to silicon without needing millions in up-front capital. Startups get access to EDA licenses, IP libraries, and production multi-project wafers with our ecosystem partners like TSMC, Synopsys, GlobalFoundries, Arm, and MathWorks. And even more importantly for Australian startups, they tap into a network of 400 advisors—experienced chip executives, technologists, and investors, with most based in Silicon Valley. The same ChipStart model has worked brilliantly in the U.K. and across Europe, and now extended to Australia. For Australian founders, it’s a bridge straight into Silicon Valley including global customers, investors, advisors, partners and inspirational pioneers of tech. The model also affords tapping into unique Australian talent working in Silicon Valley who have signed up as advisors specifically to support young Australian startups. These include key technical staff at some of the top companies in Silicon Valley.
The launch of SiliconCatalyst.AU and ChipStart AU is a national program finding its roots in Queensland. The state has been a standout in supporting advanced manufacturing and deep tech, with strong university clusters and pragmatic policy. Through our partnership with the $130 million QIC-managed Queensland Venture Capital Development Fund, we are launching a valuable program for accelerating Queensland semiconductor and quantum startups.
James Lougheed, President of SiliconCatalyst.AU, brings a proven track record as a seasoned semiconductor executive with international experience as well as being an Australian citizen, born and bred. He has 30 years of experience in the global Semiconductor and electronics industry living and working in Singapore, China and the US. James most recently ran the largest business unit at MaxLinear as VP & GM of the High-Performance Analog & Accelerator group and prior to that was Senior Vice President of Global Sales & Marketing at Exar Corporation. He has also held management positions at Cirrus Logic, Apexone Microelectronics, Future Electronics and EDMI.
“Australia has always punched above its weight in research—photonics, quantum, and materials—but we’ve historically been light on commercialization. The engineering talent and creativity are there, but founders often lack the support structure that helps transform prototypes into products and revenue,” said Mr. Lougheed. “We’ve had important tech hardware research commercialization successes like Cochlear and Resmed but the wins have been too rare. That’s changing. State and federal governments are backing advanced manufacturing and sovereign-chip capability, and organizations like Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) are taking real leadership. QIC are demonstrating vision—backing multiple accelerators under the Queensland Venture Capital Development Fund (VCDF), a Queensland Government program managed by QIC. The VCDF is an ideal founding partner for us as we bring ChipStart AU to life, being another international program driven by the Silicon Catalyst model and ecosystem. Australia now has a wave of hardware companies making great strides. Now is the time for Silicon Catalyst to play its part to accelerate this momentum,” added Lougheed.
“The Queensland Venture Capital Development Fund is proud to be backing Silicon Catalyst in bringing its proven semiconductor and quantum accelerator model to Australia,” said Leo Channon, QIC Ventures Investment Director. “The addition of Silicon Catalyst and its ChipStart AU program is an excellent complement to Queensland’s growing deep-tech ecosystem, providing critical pathways for semiconductor and quantum startups to scale from prototype to production. This collaboration underscores Queensland’s ambition to be a leading hub for advanced manufacturing, quantum, and silicon technologies.”
SiliconCatalyst.AU and ChipStart AU are interested in startups working on everything from low-power IoT and RF systems to quantum hardware and sensors—applications from Space and Defense to Medtech to AgTech – anything that benefits from silicon innovation. Australia has proven it can build world-class enterprise SaaS companies—think Atlassian and Canva—so now it’s time to replicate that commercialization success into more hardware wins.
“We’re building the infrastructure for innovation. By linking Australia’s brilliant research base with a proven global commercialization platform, we can fast-track the next generation of chip startups,” said Pete Rodriguez, CEO of Silicon Catalyst. “Our goal is to create an environment where a founder in Queensland can prototype, validate, and tape-out silicon with the same tools and mentorship as someone in San Jose. It’s about leveling the playing field, derisking the equation for investors, and ultimately exporting Aussie innovation to the world. We’re delighted to welcome our newest partner from down under.”
The program is now open and accepting applications. Applications for cohort 2026 will close 30th November 2025.
Silicon Catalyst Expands its Global Reach to Australia
Silicon Catalyst, the world’s only incubator dedicated exclusively to semiconductor startups, is bringing its proven model Down Under. The move will deliver Australia’s chip innovators access to the same in-kind tools, global partnerships, and mentorship that have helped dozens of deep-tech ventures succeed in the U.S., U.K., and Europe.
In this conversation, James Lougheed, President of Silicon Catalyst Australia, explains why now is the right time for the country’s semiconductor ecosystem to scale — and why Queensland is the perfect launchpad.
Q: Why Australia — and why now?
James Lougheed: Australia’s always punched above its weight in research—photonics, quantum, materials—but we’ve historically been light on commercialization. The engineering talent and creativity are here, but founders often lack the support structure that helps transform prototypes into products and revenue. We’ve had important tech hardware research commercialization successes like Cochlear and Resmed but the wins have been too rare.
That’s changing. State and federal governments are backing advanced manufacturing and sovereign-chip capability, and organizations like Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) are taking real leadership. QIC isn’t just investing capital; they’re demonstrating vision with the Queensland Venture Capital Development Fund (VCDF) that they manage, which is supporting accelerators to improve the quality of their investment pool in Queensland. VCDF is the ideal founding partner for ChipStart AU as we bring it to life in Australia. We now have a wave of new hardware companies making great strides in Australia including PsiQuantum, Diraq, SQC, Q-CTRL, Quantum Brilliance, Morse Micro and Syenta. Now is the time for Silicon Catalyst to play its part to accelerate this momentum.
Q: Tell us more about the ChipStart AU program and what it brings to Australian startups.
James Lougheed: ChipStart is our global pre-seed “startup recipe”—we help founders go from idea to silicon without needing multiple millions in up-front capital. Startups get access to EDA licenses, IP libraries, and production multi-project wafers with our ecosystem partners like TSMC, Synopsys, GlobalFoundries, Arm, and MathWorks. And even more importantly for Australian startups, they tap into a network of 400 advisors—experienced chip executives, technologists, and investors, with most based in Silicon Valley.
The same model has worked brilliantly in the U.K. and now across Europe, and we’re extending it to Australia, Japan, and Southeast Asia. For Aussie founders, it’s a bridge straight into Silicon Valley including global customers, investors, advisors and partners. We’ll also be tapping into unique Australian talent working in Silicon Valley who have signed up as advisors specifically to support young Australian startups. These include key technical staff at companies like Nvidia, Texas Instruments, Cisco, HPE, Cloudflare and others.
Q: Why anchor the program in Queensland?
James Lougheed: We like to say we’re looking for gold, anchored in Queensland. The state’s been a standout in supporting advanced manufacturing and deep tech, with strong university clusters and pragmatic policy. Through our partnership with the VCDF which is managed by QIC, we’re launching the ChipStart AU program for QLD startups, and in parallel we’re establishing a national industry consortium led by Yaja Ventures, ensuring that while Queensland is home base, the reach extends across all of Australia.
Q: What kind of companies do you hope to support here?
James Lougheed: We’re interested in startups working on everything from low-power IoT and RF systems to quantum hardware and sensors—applications from Space and Defense to Medtech & AgTech—anything that benefits from silicon innovation. Australia’s proven it can build world-class enterprise SaaS companies—think Atlassian and Canva—so now it’s time to replicate that commercialization success into more hardware wins.
Q: You mentioned a “hardware renaissance.” What’s driving that globally?
James Lougheed: Ten years ago, back in 2015, none of the world’s top ten companies were doing their own chip design. Today, eight out of ten are. From Nvidia to Apple, hardware’s become the engine of AI, cloud, and connectivity.
The semiconductor market has ballooned from around US $335 billion in 2015 to over US $600 billion today—and it’s heading toward US $1 trillion by 2030. It’s grown $300 billion in the past decade, and we’ll add another $300 billion within just five years. Australia can—and should—be part of that story.
Q: How does Silicon Catalyst fit into that global growth narrative?
James Lougheed: We’re building the infrastructure for innovation. By linking Australia’s brilliant research base, and founding leaders of today with a proven global commercialization platform, we can fast-track the next generation of chip startups.
Our goal is to create an environment where a founder in Brisbane or Sydney can prototype, validate, and tape-out silicon with the same tools and mentorship as someone in San Jose. It’s about levelling the playing field—and exporting Aussie innovation to the world.
Q: What do you hope success will look like five years from now?
James Lougheed: When I was first working in an Brisbane electronics startup 30 years ago, I didn’t have many options and I was fortunate to land where I did. The tech ecosystem has grown tremendously since then, but after 30 years of working in tech in Asia and the US, it’s time for me to play my part and help leverage my expertise along with the leading Silicon Catalyst program offering, to help accelerate further. I hope to see a thriving ecosystem of Australian semiconductor startups shipping real products, raising global capital, and employing thousands of engineers. We’ll have bridged Australia to Silicon Valley and beyond, and proven that this country’s hardware creativity can scale just as its software did.
Closing thoughts
Silicon Catalyst’s arrival marks a new phase in Australia’s deep-tech evolution—one backed by institutional muscle and global know-how. With VCDF’s partnership anchoring the effort in Queensland and a clear pipeline to the world’s semiconductor ecosystem, the country’s long-awaited shift from research powerhouse to hardware exporter may finally be underway.