1995 The SIA explores the rapidly growing Chinese market in its document,


“Semiconductors in China:


Defining American Interest.” High tariffs, lax intellectual property protection and forced technology transfer are among some of the issues addressed.


Foreign share of the Japan semiconductor market exceeds 20 percent on an annualized basis for the first time, demonstrating the success of the landmark US-Japan Semiconductor Trade Agreement. This additional 10 percentage points in market share over the historic 10 percent level achieved prior to the market access initiative in 1985 translates to an additional $2.9 billion in sales.


Semiconductor manufacturers continue their nationwide leadership position in protecting workers, as the US Department of Labor rates the industry the third-safest in terms of injury- and illness-incidence rates.


The SIA and EIAJ jointly announce the Emerging Applications Cooperative Project and other efforts to stimulate major design-ins and other business opportunities in Japan for foreign semiconductor manufacturers.


With the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden to the European Union, the European Union lowers its semiconductor tariffs from a high of 14% to a high of 7%.


The SIA and other national and regional semiconductor trade associations jointly form the Semiconductor International Capacity Statistics (SICAS), which will chart global chip factory capacity rates.


1996 U.S. and Japan sign a new trade agreement on semiconductors that builds on cooperative efforts laid down in previous negotiations and adds activities designed to increase market accessibility for suppliers. Agreement calls for the establishment of the World Semiconductor Council (WSC).


SIA members negotiates memorandum on global warming with the US Environmental Protection Agency. Companies agree to continue reducing their usage of ozone-depleting chemicals.


1997 SIA establishes the Focus Center Research Program, a new partnership among industry, government and the nation’s most prestigious research universities. The centers emphasize long-term research (8 years and beyond) that is critical to leaping key technology hurdles.


The SIA, working with the US government and 38 other countries, accounting for more than 92 percent of the global trade and information technology products, creates the Information Technology Agreement (ITA). The ITA eliminates duties on chips, computers and telecommunications equipment.


At the SIA’s urging, Korea and the European Union agree to end all chip tariffs by 1999, fourteen years after the US eliminated its similar tariffs. In a surprise move, Europe chooses to move up its tariff elimination schedule to January 1998, saving US companies and their customers $81 million in 1998, in addition to the $240 million savings generated by the ITA.


1998 SIA creates a Workforce Strategy Committee to address the critical need for an increased and educated workforce.


The SIA commissions an independent research firm to conduct an economic impact study, which


concludes that the semiconductor industry is the number one driver of growth for the US economy, providing jobs for 260,000 people and creating an additional 1.4 million jobs for people who provide goods and services for the industry.


The SIA and its coalition partners successfully lobbies to secure passage of the “American


Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998,” which nearly doubles the number of foreign engineers and scientists who will be eligible to work for technology companies in the US. The so-called “cap” on H-1B visas was increased from 65,000 to 115,000 for 1999 and 2000, and to 107,500 for 2001.


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