The first


two Focus Centers,


“Design and Test”


led by the University of California, Berkeley and


“Interconnect” led by Georgia Tech, are launched and funded by SIA, DARPA, and semiconductor suppliers.


SIA Board funds a major initiative to increase the number of undergraduate engineers interested in semiconductor careers.


SIA establishes a Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), an independent panel commissioned to review existing industry data to address allegations of cancer risks among semiconductor employees.


US Bureau of Labor Statistics rates the semiconductor industry the second-safest in terms of injury- and illness-incidence rates among 208 durable goods manufacturing industries.


2001 China formally joins the WTO on terms advocated by the SIA.


Recognizing that university-based research leads directly to industry technology advances, the SIA makes Federal support for university research its top public policy priority. Congress approves an 8 percent increase in funding for the National Science Foundation for Fiscal 2002.


SIA successfully lobbies Congress to appropriate $10.5 billion for science and technology at the Defense Department, a 12 percent increase over the prior year -- the first time the total has exceeded $10 billion -- along with a 2 percent increase for the Department of Energy’s Science Office.


As a result of SIA’s efforts, China begins to provide intellectual property protection for registered IC designs and eliminate its tariffs on semiconductors. China pledges to grant trading and distribution rights within 3 years and to immediately commit its state-invested enterprises to purchase on the basis of commercial considerations.


SIA establishes two additional Focus Centers, bringing the total to four. These new centers address technological problems identified as most challenging by the ITRS: “Materials Structures and Devices” and “Circuits Systems and Software.”


MTOPs are raised from 6,500 to 190,000 MTOPS. The SIA continues to advocate that MTOPS should be dropped as a metric for export controls.


2002 SIA celebrates the 25th Anniversary of its founding.


SIA is instrumental in helping to assure that harmful legislation requiring expensing of employee stock options or minimum holding periods for executive stock grants is not enacted. SIA submits concise analysis and comments to FASB on its proposals, and engages on the international front as well.


SIA focuses on full implementation of China’s WTO commitments. In meetings with Chinese officials and in testimony before the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office, the SIA calls for the elimination of China’s rebate of 11-14% of its nominal 17% Value Added Tax (VAT) for semiconductor producers in China, as this discriminates against imported chips and contravenes China’s WTO obligations. SIA argues that the best solution for U.S. export interests and China’s economic development is for the PRC to reduce if not eliminate the VAT rate for all semiconductors, regardless of origin, thus lowering the cost for Chinese chip consumers. The SIA also continues to emphasize forcefully that full and complete protection of intellectual property is vital for foreign companies and China’s indigenous industry.


SIA scores a major victory in streamlining U.S. export controls when the President eliminates MTOPS controls on commercial exports of microprocessors.


SIA succeeds in delaying consideration of a proposed 20% rate increase in chip shipping charges, and expects ultimately to convince the government that market forces and not IATA standards should determine air-freight shipping rates.


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