From Motorola's historic lab to today: Arizona ranks 3rd in chipmaking*
10/01/2001
 Saguaro National Park |
The sunny desert sands of Arizona have attracted silicon-based industries since the inception of the transistor. In 1949, Motorola set up a small, solid state research laboratory in Phoenix to investigate the new field of solid state technology. By 1952, its semiconductor development group began to manufacture a three-amp power transistor. Motorola's first mass-produced semiconductor and the world's first high-power transistor, a germanium device intended for car radios, was commercially produced in 1955. In 1956, Motorola became a commercial producer and supplier of semiconductors for sale to other manufacturers.
In Phoenix, Motorola built this early start into industry dominance in manufacturing so-called discrete devices, and eventually a fair share of worldwide leadership in IC manufacturing, where it is still number eight. The company's discrete device manufacturing capability was bought out by management in 1999, forming ON Semiconductor, but Motorola's worldwide IC manufacturing capacity is still significant in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area.
When Silicon Valley and other semiconductor manufacturers began to broaden IC manufacturing capability and capacities in the 1970s and 1980s, Motorola's presence in Arizona meant that the state was always one southwest location to consider. Often, however, Arizona lost to Texas and Colorado, but the state has captured a second-place share of semiconductor-manufacturing capacity in the southwest US. Among the other semiconductor manufacturers in the state, those in the top ten to establish wafer fabs in Arizona include STMicroelectronics, Intel since 1980, and Texas Instruments, which purchased Burr Brown in Tucson just two years ago.
 Leading high-tech industry segments in Arizona, measured by employment. (Source: Cyberstates 2001) |
Today, the presence of industry leaders Intel and Motorola in Arizona includes much more than just wafer fabrication. The greater Phoenix area is also the location of Motorola Computer Group (MCG), a business unit of the Motorola Integrated Electronic Systems Sector, and a leading supplier of business-to-business embedded computing platforms for use in telecommunications, network storage, imaging, medical equipment, and semiconductor production and test equipment applications. Intel's operations in the state include its wireless communications and computing group, home products group, Intel architecture products group, a validation and compatibility lab, the Arizona Development Center, corporate materials and services, and assembly test development. This combination of critical mass from two leading semiconductor manufacturers has recently produced a new cooperative effort that some experts believe may establish Arizona as a worldwide center in semiconductor technology for embedded systems technologies (see "World center for embedded systems" on p. S30).
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ICs shine in AZ
Today, Motorola has eight wafer fabs in Arizona (some are being phased out and combined) at four different campuses, all in the greater Phoenix area. According to Solid State Technology's most recent tabulation of Arizona wafer fabs, 10 semiconductor manufacturers have 21 wafer fabs in Arizona, ranging from those processing 75mm silicon wafers for discrete bipolar devices to those with the most advanced 200mm fab capability. While there is currently no 300mm fab under construction in Arizona, Intel has tentative plans to convert its 200mm Fab 22, which is slated for completion by the end of 2001, to the larger-sized wafers in the future. Our estimate shows that if all of Arizona's wafer fabs (Table 1) ramp up to full capacity in 2002, their combined production would be the equivalent of 222,000 200mm wafers/month or 2.7 million/year. This is roughly 2.7% of the 101 million 200mm equivalent wafers that may be needed in 2002, as forecast by Semico Research, Scottsdale, AZ.
High tech shines, too
Employment statistics show that Arizona has the 18th largest high-tech industry in the US with 103,951 high-tech related jobs; approximately 33,500 of these jobs are specifically in semiconductor manufacturing (see figure), the 3rd largest semiconductor manufacturing employment in the US (behind California and Texas). The high-tech industry in Arizona grew by 3900 jobs in 2000 alone. In the southwest US, Arizona's total of high-tech jobs ranks behind Texas and Colorado, but ahead of New Mexico and Utah, according to Cyberstates 2001.
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The state has added 27,600 jobs to its high-tech work force from 1994 to 2000 (a 36% increase rated as the 7th fastest among large high-tech states, those with >100,000 high-tech jobs), with the growth trend continuing through year's end. According to D'Arcy Collins, chairman of AeA's Arizona council and president of ACADZ, "AeA's recent accumulation of statistics for the state shows how critical the high-tech industry is to Arizona's economy, whether measured by jobs, wages, or exports. And semiconductor manufacturing is an important industry segment for Arizona." The industry employs 33,500 persons, 33% of high-tech jobs in Arizona."
Cyberstates 2001 reports that Arizona's highly skilled and highly educated tech workers are well compensated for their abilities. Arizona ranks sixteenth in high-tech average wages with $58,684 in 1999, 95% more than the average private sector wage of $30,133 in the state. The average wage for high-tech workers increased 23% or $10,800 between 1994 and 1999 (adjusted for inflation). — P.B.
Acknowledgments
Cactus photos are courtesy of Eglin Photography and the Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau.
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.
*Ranking in US based on 1999 employment [1].
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World center for embedded systems
Recently, Intel, Motorola, and Arizona State University's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) announced a first-of-its-kind collaborative program to focus on the advancement of education programs and research to assist industry in building the next generation of embedded communication systems. Some experts believe that this high-tech collaborative effort may establish Arizona as a worldwide center for embedded systems technologies.
Arizona State University is the third largest public university in the US and its College of Engineering and Applied Sciences is ranked as one of the top 50 programs for both undergraduate and graduate studies, according to US News and World Report.
The new program will fuel Intel's and Motorola's goal of attracting students from ASU who are trained to create the next generation of embedded communications systems that will connect and interact through a futuristic, lightning fast, and intelligent network infrastructure. The network, which will be invisible to consumers as "embedded computing," will provide connectivity between multimedia devices and information that exists within corporations and on the Internet. This network will embody computing intelligence and sophistication far exceeding what is realized today in the conventional Internet.
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The collaboration is designed to address a national shortage of engineers with the embedded systems expertise necessary to develop technologies for embedded systems in general, and those required for internetworking and communications systems in particular. Peter Crouch, dean of ASU's CEAS, said, "This collaboration is designed to create an infrastructure to greatly enhance the interaction of students and faculty with the private sector, and address the critical long-term needs of high-technology companies in the embedded systems area. The strategic collaboration among the university, Intel, and Motorola will allow us to focus on key issues, limit organizational complexity, and increase both the quality and quantity of graduates coming into the industry. The collaborative effort — through its interaction between industry and academia — will position CEAS as a leader in this highly specialized area." Once the consortium is established, participation will be broadened to include other companies and other universities.
The collaboration between Motorola, Intel, and ASU involves a number of elements, beginning with a focused embedded computing systems curriculum being introduced within the CEAS. A key component is a new kind of credit-bearing internship program in which students and faculty members will work alongside industry on projects that build products and technologies for the next-generation Internet.
The collaboration will also:
- establish a multi-industry, multi-university consortium to combine energies and focus on next-generation embedded computing technologies and their application;
- recruit top-quality students to ASU by providing scholarships, a superior educational experience through the focused curriculum, and for-credit intensive internships at Phoenix-area Intel and Motorola facilities;
- secure top-quality faculty through funding of research and industry partnerships;
- focus curriculum development in embedded systems technologies to prepare graduates with required skills; and
- address the Arizona legislature's focus on high-technology advancement to enhance the state's economy in conjunction with Arizona governor Jane Dee Hull's education-first initiative.
Wayne Sennett, senior VP and GM of the Motorola Computer Group in Tempe, calls the new cooperative relationship with ASU and Intel "a visionary endeavor." He said, "The embedded systems program will serve the needs of two of the country's leading suppliers of embedded computing technologies and help position the ASU College of Engineering as a national academic resource in this emerging and important field."
Thomas Franz, VP and GM of Intel's Network Processing Group, said, "Networking and the Internet, significant growth areas for embedded computing solutions, have created an insatiable need for sophisticated services and high-bandwidth connectivity. Highly specialized engineering skills are key to keeping pace with this demand. This collaborative effort, through its interaction between industry and academia, allows the creation of a complete ecosystem solution and provides the key engineering skills necessary to implement highly specialized solutions."
"Our interaction with Intel and Motorola," said Crouch, "has helped us prioritize the restructuring of some of our curriculum within these three disciplines. We are confident that industry experts can plan an integral role in developing new ideas for curriculum development and research projects that will better prepare our graduates in the embedded systems environment."