Studying the effects of plasma and heat on semiconductor structures involves simulating a complex system using simultaneous analysis of heat waves, carrier densities and elastic wave equations. Despite the paramount importance of this subject, it still lacks further research and investigation due to the paucity of research work that has been conducted. This paper investigates plasma–photothermoelastic interactions in isotropic and homogeneous semiconductor solids using a novel generalised thermoelasticity model. The model is constructedon the basis of the concept of memory-dependent derivative (MDD) dual-phase lag thermoelasticity and coupled plasma-thermal wave equation. By employing the proposed model, the transient response of a semiconducting solid cylinder rotating axially in an applied magnetic field and subjected to time-dependent heat flux was investigated. The Laplace transform technique was used to solve the derived system of equations and to obtain the different domains,and the numerical results were graphically displayed. The effects of time delay, kernel function and rotation were examined. The obtained numerical results were also compared with different models of thermoelasticity with MDD.