Regional concentration of fabs totals approximately 10% of industry's capacity
10/01/2001
Pieter "Pete" Burggraaf, Senior Technical Editor, Solid State Technology
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There is no doubt that the southwestern US is a favored location for semiconductor manufacturers. A quick review shows that five of the top 10 semiconductor manufacturers worldwide have wafer fabrication facilities in the region (see table): Intel, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, Samsung, and Motorola. Semiconductor manufacturers not in the current top 10 account for an additional 44 wafer fabs in the region, for a grand total of 70. The highest concentrations of wafer fabs in the southwest are in Texas with 35 and Arizona with 21.
While the many unofficial definitions of the southwestern US vary, we include Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah. Solid State Technology's tabulation of southwestern wafer fabs shows that combined production, if all fabs were on line and ramped to our estimated maximum capacity, would be the equivalent of 810,700 200mm wafers/month or 9.73 million/year. This is approximately 10.4% of the 101 million 200mm equivalent wafers that may be needed in 2002, as projected by Semico Research, Scottsdale, AZ.
While this staggering capacity is crucial for the worldwide semiconductor industry, our review of these wafer fabs also shows that they are crucially important for state economies where high-tech industries predominate, and equally important for their community presence. In our analysis, we have relied on recent statistics and facts from Cyberstates 2001, a state-by-state overview of the high-tech industry published by the American Electronics Association (AeA) [1]. This report analyzes national and state trends in high-tech employment, wages, and exports using US government data from 1994-2000, the most current available.
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The statistics in Cyberstates 2001 clearly show a national high-tech success story. Even with the current economic slowdown and confusion about where the economy is headed (e.g., growth in technology employment slowed in 2000 and the outlook for 2001 is still uncertain), the US high-tech industry continues to create jobs, pay its work force well, and remain engaged in a global market. The US high-technology industry grew through 2000, adding 1.5 million jobs to the US economy since 1994. Indeed, last year the tech industry added nearly a quarter of a million jobs.
Similarly, high-tech wages continue to post impressive gains, with a record increase of 10% in 1999. The high-tech average wage of $64,900 was 95% higher than the average US private sector wage in 1999. Also, exports of high-tech goods reached a record high of $223 billion in 2000, representing 29% of all US exports. Venture capital investment totaled $104 billion in 2000.
A big part of this success story is semiconductor manufacturing and its concentration in the southwestern states.
Reference
- Cyberstates 2001 is part of AeA's cyber report series that includes Cybernation 2.0, CyberEducation, and Cybercities. AeA members may purchase the Cyberstates 2001 report for $95, nonmembers for $190. Contact AeA at ph 800/284-4232.
Pieter "Pete" Burggraaf has more than 25 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, including work at Arizona wafer fabs for Motorola and Siemens, and ASM America in Phoenix. He can be reached at 875 S. Yucca Dr., Wickenburg, AZ 85390; ph 928/684-1265, fax 928/441-3139, e-mail [email protected].