Date of Award

1-1-2018

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Nanoscale Science and Engineering

Program

Nanoscale Sciences

Content Description

1 online resource (ii, x,180 pages) : illustrations (some color)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Unnikrishnan Pillai

Committee Members

Laura Schultz, Gregory Denbeaux, Bradley Thiel, Paul Ruud

Keywords

R&D Efficiency, Semiconductor Industry, Vertical Specialization, Semiconductor industry, Economic specialization, Diversification in industry

Subject Categories

Economics | Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Abstract

Starting in the 1970s, specialized suppliers have entered the semiconductor industry to supply capital equipment, or tools, used in semiconductor manufacturing to downstream semiconductor companies. After the entry of these external suppliers, semiconductor chip producers began to rely in varying degrees on them for the R&D to improve the quality of capital equipment, while they themselves began to focus on design and production of chips. In my dissertation, I conduct an empirical and theoretical investigation to support my hypothesis that the difference in R&D incentives between the upstream suppliers and downstream chip manufacturers was the important reason for the emergence of specialized suppliers.

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