The present contribution enlightens a viable simulation which describes the photothermoelastic interactions for a two-dimensional thermoelastic transversely isotropic thick semiconducting plate due to the presence of a varying heat source. The upper surface of the semiconductor is traction-free, subjected to prescribed surface temperature and prescribed carrier density flux while the lower surface of the plate rests on a rigid foundation and is thermally insulated. In this new model, the conventional Fourier law has been modified assimilating the memory-dependent derivative within a slipping interval in association with the nonlocal stress theory. On utilizing Laplace and Fourier transformation mechanism, the governing equations for displacement, carrier density and temperature have been obtained in the Laplace–Fourier transform domain. In order to have the solutions in the space-time domain, the inversion of the double transform have been carried out numerically based on the method of Fourier series expansion. From the graphical representations corresponding to the numerical results, the significance of effective parameters such as nonlocality parameter, delay-time parameter is discussed. Noteworthy differences in the results have been demonstrated for different kernel functions. Also, the superiority of a nonlinear kernel function and its effectiveness is also reported in the study.