Offshoring in the Semiconductor Industry: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

Semiconductor design is one of the many white-collar job categories considered to be at risk from offshoring by U.S. companies via investments and outsourcing. Data about this activity are scarce and hard to interpret, but there is much to be learned from looking at earlier periods in the industry's history when other phases of the semiconductor value chain -assembly and fabrication -experienced rapid offshore expansion.