Motorola Inc has sent notice to US semiconductor research consortium Sematech that it will withdraw in two years – the required notice period – unless Sematech’s research priorities are brought more into line with Motorola’s own interests. Motorola contributes $20m annually to the consortium and has 20 staff working on site.
Austin, Texas-based Sematech, originally US only, but more recently a global body since the formation of International Sematech earlier this year (CI No 3,341), has concentrated on such areas as lithography, interconnect, front-end processes, manufacturing methods and environmental issues. It is also coordinating the standards efforts around 300mm manufacturing, forging relationships between manufacturers and tools suppliers and developing training initiatives. There are 500 staff. Originally Government funded, the organization now relies on private funding and currently has a much reduced budget of around $140m per year.
Aside from Motorola, its members include Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Compaq Computer Corp, Conexant (the former Rockwell Semiconductor), Hewlett-Packard Co, IBM Corp, Intel Corp, Lucent Technologies Inc and Texas Instruments Inc. These have now been joined by international members Hyudai Semiconductor, Infineon Technologies, Philips Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics and Tiawan Semiconductor.
According to reports, Motorola says that priorities at Sematech have changed with the addition of the new members. Sematech was originally formed to bolster research spending in order to combat aggressive competition from Japan. Today, however, it is finding it harder to secure pre-competitive niche areas for itself. Individual members spend far greater sums on their own research, and are reluctant to share proprietary information about (for instance) process technology with their competitors.
Both Conexant and Lucent are thought to have expressed doubts about their Sematech membership recently, but were persuaded by Sematech to remain as members. Compaq, which took over its membership from Digital Equipment Corp, is expected to leave at the end of the year. National Semiconductor Corp left last year. Sematech is also expected to hold talks with Motorola in an attempt to keep its membership.
