Unlocking the potential of the Internet of Everything

The shift from the Internet of Things (IoT) to an Internet of Everything (IoE) has long been anticipated. But, says Technology Editor Hellen Norman, progress has been stalled by barriers around semiconductor supply, cost, and sustainability. Could FlexICs – ultra-thin physically flexible chips – be the catalyst to finally unlock the potential of a truly connected world?

From smart automation to smart homes, digital transformation is already reshaping every aspect of daily lives. But the promise of the IoE – a hyperconnected world of data-sharing devices driving insight and efficiency at scale – remains largely unrealised. Yet, its market potential is massive: McKinsey estimates the global IoT market alone could be worth up to $12.5 trillion by 2030. Expanding intelligence to billions of smart items could see that figure skyrocket.

What’s holding the Internet of Everything back?

One major challenge to the realisation of the IoE is chip availability. Connecting billions of everyday items requires an abundant supply of semiconductors. But most fabrication plants (fabs) focus on the production of high-margin, high-performance chips – yet IoE devices typically don’t use these cutting-edge chips. They rely on ‘legacy’ chips.

Despite the name, legacy chips aren’t old technology. They’re critical components in modern electronics, constantly evolving to serve new functions and use cases and they’re found in everything from appliances to industrial sensors. Their importance was thrown into sharp relief during the pandemic, when shortages brought global supply chains to a standstill and entire product lines ground to a halt.

So if that’s what’s constraining the potential of the IoE, why not just produce more?

Expanding chip production – sustainably

The fact is that expanding the production of legacy chips isn’t that simple. Legacy chips are often made in fabs using older equipment – on 200mm wafers, rather than state-of-the-art 300mm – and this equipment is less readily available. In any case, building a new fab is costly, requiring billions in capital and years to complete. And while depreciated equipment makes it easier to turn a profit, investment in new facilities can be risky, with lower margins and increased risk of obsolescence.

Sustainability is another concern. The environmental cost of chipmaking is a growing issue as the industry scales. Many existing legacy fabs were built before carbon emissions were a cause for concern, and copious use of energy and water was seen as inevitable part of production. While newer fabs benefit from sustainable design, with carefully managed wastewater programmes and energy reduction initiatives, retrofitting older facilities is expensive and complex.

Essentially, existing methods of chip production won’t help us realise the IoE. To sustainably achieve ubiquitous connectivity, we need a different approach.

New era; new technology

In 2024, HRH the Princess Royal officially opened Pragmatic Park, our flagship production facility, located in Durham, UK. But this was significant in more ways than one – not only is it the UK’s only 300mm semiconductor fab, it’s the first to produce chips using thin-film transistor (TFT) technology. This shift to advanced materials marks a significant shift in the semiconductor sector, and it’s poised to redefine how chips are made and deployed.

The resulting chips, known as FlexICs – flexible integrated circuits – are built without the complex, high-temperature processes of silicon chip fabrication. Instead, they use a simple spin-coating of polyimide onto a glass carrier. This low-temperature process drastically reduces consumption of energy, water, and chemical use – slashing the carbon footprint of the chips, along with set-up costs and production timescales.

Instead of waiting months for chip delivery after tape-out, FlexICs can be manufactured and shipped in just weeks. This opens the door to iterative development, giving designers more freedom to innovate and improve on the fly. Reduced non-recurring engineering (NRE) costs also make it cheaper and easier than ever before to bring designs to life.

The simplified manufacturing process naturally impacts the size of the fab. A typical silicon fab needs thousands, if not tens of thousands, of square metres of cleanroom space – and, of course, significant investment to achieve that. Our modular ‘mini fabs’ occupy just a few hundred square metres – yet can produce billions of chips annually. They’re also fast and affordable to deploy, making localised manufacturing viable for a wider range of industries and geographies.

Crucially, FlexICs are a perfect substitute for legacy chips, and a key enabler of a hyperconnected Internet of Everything.

Unlocking intelligence – everywhere

Uniquely, FlexICs are ultra-thin and physically flexible. This, in combination, with their low cost makes them ideal for integration into everyday objects – places where traditional chips can’t go, due to cost, space, or form factor. It also unlocks new use cases that require intelligence and real-time data to drive insight and efficiency scale.

In retail and fast-moving consumer goods, FlexICs create a direct digital connection between brand and consumer, driving loyalty and making every touchpoint a richer experience. They can also give instant access to a complete product history as part of a digital product passport, enabling informed purchasing decisions while promoting sustainability.

Circular economy initiatives could also benefit from this ‘flexible intelligence’. Embedded into reusable packaging, FlexICs allow for precise tracking, usage monitoring, and improved recycling – critical for reducing environmental impact. FlexICs also support miniaturisation at system level, by integrating multiple bulky components into a single, ultra-thin, flexible system-on-chip. This makes for sleeker, more streamlined devices – something that’s particularly important for consumer electronics such as wearables or hearables, where there’s increasing pressure to integrate ever more complexity without compromising on form factor.

The future is flexible

The future is a hyperconnected world where intelligence flows through everything we touch. We’re at the edge of an IoE breakthrough. But to get there, we need a new kind of electronics: flexible, affordable, and sustainable.

FlexICs are the key to unlock that potential – the flexible intelligence to bring smart functionality to billions of items, and finally make the IoE a reality.