About
Publication Information
Subscriptions
Permissions
Advertising
Journal Rankings
Best Article Award
Press Releases
Resources
Access Options
Submission Guidelines
Reviewer Guidelines
Sample Articles
Paper Calls
Contact Us
Submit & Review
Browse
Current Issue
All Issues
Featured
Latest
Topics
Videos
Cases
Subscribe
California Management Review
California Management Review is a premier academic management journal published at UC Berkeley
Search
Article Information
The 'Non-Globalization' of Innovation in the Semiconductor Industry
Macher, Jeffrey T., David C. Mowery, and Alberto Di Minin
50
/
1
(
Fall
2007
):
217
-
242
The global semiconductor industry is undergoing several forms of structural change simultaneously. The structure of market demand is shifting from one dominated by personal computers to a more diverse array of heterogeneous niches, largely resulting from global diffusion of the Internet and wireless communications applications. The structure of manufacturing activities is shifting from one dominated by “integrated device manufacturers” (IDMs) that both design and manufacture semiconductor components to one characterized by vertical specialization, where many firms specialize in either design and marketing (“fabless” firms) or manufacturing (“foundries”). Finally, market demand and technical expertise are growing in geographic regions (e.g., Malaysia, Singapore, and the People’s Republic of China) that formerly were much less prominent actors in the global industry. In the face of such far-reaching structural change in the industry, it is surprising that most indicators of “globalization” of innovation-related activities in the U.S. semiconductor industry—ranging from publicly available data on the share of industry-funded R&D that is performed offshore to the location of inventive activity associated with patenting by U.S. firms—indicate only modest offshore movement in key innovation-related activities. To a surprising extent, this evidence suggests that much of the innovation process in this global industry remains “non-globalized.”