What would we do with it?
“What would we do with it? We’re not going to build high volume fabs to compete with Taiwan, South Korea, or the USA, or even China,” he added.
Yes, that's the spirit. This comment explains exactly why we don't, and never will, have meaningful investment into the UK tech industry.
I'm in the process of trying to move back to the UK from the US, for reasons other than the fairy stories people make up about America.
What is true is the work/life balance in the UK is far superior. Not perfect, but infinitely better than the always-on life in the US.
What is also true is the money invested into UK tech is shameful. This is not just about becoming world leaders in whatever segment we decide to invest in. It's also about attracting and keeping talent. Because if you don't have the funding, you can't pay the wages - and that is as serious a handicap as any. If you could just move your career from the UK to the US, doing the exact same job you're doing now, you could expect to bring home about 30% more than you do now. Factor in cost of living and that actually goes up if you move to the right location.
So yeah, work/life balance sucks. But because there's investment - real investment - you will probably own your own home, own a nice car, have money to spend on cool toys and be able to go on nice "vacations".