WSC opens membership to Taiwan and China

07/01/1998

WSC opens membership to Taiwan and China

The World Semiconductor Council (WSC) opened council membership to Taiwan and China at its second annual gathering, where meeting sponsor Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) also announced that it will allow international participation in the development of the next semiconductor technology Roadmap, due out in 1999.

At the meeting, held in Carlsbad, CA, the WSC said the semiconductor industry associations in Taiwan and China could join the council as associate members at its next annual meeting in 1999. The membership offer is conditional on the formal commitment of semiconductor tariff elimination by both countries. The WSC also noted both associations must work with their respective governments to support WSC activities. Noting that the WSC could not be responsible for development of the next Roadmap because of the "magnitude of the task," SIA president George Scalise said the Roadmap development will remain an SIA responsibility, but with "limited foreign participation."

Under this plan, a new International Overall Roadmap Technology Characteristics Committee and International Technology Working Group will be formed in the third quarter, with the first meetings planned for the December quarter. Formal invitations to participate will be sent out to international organizations this quarter.

While the international committees will "interface" with the SIA`s domestic roadmap committees, the domestic committees will not see any formative changes as a result of the additional participation, Scalise said. In addition, the SIA board will reassess the foreign participation process at the end of 1998 to consider whether it has been effective.

"Everyone has benefited from SIA`s Roadmap process," he said. "The SIA has carefully considered the requests by other countries to participate. This has not been an easy issue for SIA. On the one hand, there is an advantage in getting advice from the best minds from around the world.

"On the other hand, there is a concern that the Roadmap will be delayed by the added complexity resulting from international coordination," Scalise said. - C.L.