Maybe the (
Sematech) roadmap also generated some interest.
SEMATECH was one of the models we looked at when creating the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation.
Along with colleagues from
SEMATECH and Texas State University, the team presented the breakthrough findings at the International Electron Devices Meeting in San Francisco this past December.
The criticisms of
SEMATECH referred to by the authors are misplaced.
But this explanation raises another question: how did the semiconductor equipment firms manage to innovate faster after 19907 One possible explanation is that the increase in innovation rate was the result of activities undertaken by
SEMATECH, a consortium of semiconductor companies that was established in the United States in 1988 in response to increasing competition from ]apan.
Sematech in Austin, Texas, is a prime example of this type of "precompetitive" alliance.
Indeed, the successful founding and continued viability of Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology (
SEMATECH) demonstrate that cooperation between competitors can be achieved under certain conditions (Browning et al., 1995).
Although it lacks a dedicated research facility, it is the closest undertaking to
Sematech insofar as being a forum where the best and brightest engineers share ideas, resources and work out problems.
Representatives of the following companies participated in the meeting: Aerospace Corp., Alcatel-Lucent, ExxonMobil, Ford, General Electric, IBM, Ineos Technologies, Rigaku, and
SEMATECH. Several academic attendees with industrially supported materials research programs also spoke on behalf of industry.
In addition, the Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology, or
SEMATECH, consortium, an on-site test facility and a conduit for new technological advances for the U.S.
In the case of
SEMATECH, for example, it is the major semiconductor companies like Intel, TI and AMD that have remained members and supporters throughout the organization's history.