Joint R and D - Current and future plans

Soaring costs for increasingly sophisticated VLSI design and manufacture, coupled with reduced profit margins due to the penetration of U.S. semiconductor and computer markets by foreign competition, have caused a reassessment of the methods by which U.S. companies can accomplish R and D. Many advocate a more organized team-oriented approach to focus resources, avoiding wasteful duplication of effort. Two separate joint ventures are in the formative stages. The first is the Semiconductor Research Cooperative (SRC), funded by more than a dozen companies, which in turn will fund long-term research at universities with the goal to produce next generation VLSI and state-of-the-art semiconductor devices. The second involves companies with the microelectronics and computer technologies, which will combine and assign research efforts among its member companies. Additionally, there are projects at many universities which promote university-industry relationships. Panelists will asses the progress, effectiveness and outlook of the changing approach to R and D.