Developing an Ambidextrous Workforce for Profitable Nanoscale Manufacturing: The Case of Semiconductor Joint Development Projects

An exploratory, qualitative, empirical study of joint development projects (JDPs) in semiconductor manufacturing suggests that chipmakers and tool suppliers are facing major ambidexterity challenges, i.e., they are having problems balancing the need to exploit with the need to explore. The relentless escalation of the economies of speed, scale, and scope that drive the semiconductor industry has reached the point where individuals, teams, and organizations can no longer create, transfer, and absorb knowledge at a rate that guarantees profitability. The investigation of ambidexterity that is described in this paper provides a novel, knowledge-oriented approach to workforce development. This approach leads to a set of best practices, which are being and should be deployed by chipmakers and their suppliers so that these firms remain profitable in the production of chips that exhibit nanoscale features.