The economics of flexible integrated circuit manufacturing technology

An economic frameword for evaluting flexible integrated circuit manufacturing technologies is developed as an alternative to the capacity races that appear to have played a major role in the decline of the U.S. IC industry. Economic advantages of flexible IC manufacturing technologies (such as cluster tools and multiprocessors) may include reductions in units costs at low output volumes, inexpensive increases in the diversity of IC products manufactured, and acceleration of the speed of new product introduction. The consequences of these developments for semiconductor equipment producers, IC manufacturers, and electronic system producers are examined.