U.S. SEMICONDUCTOR PLAN RAISES ANTITRUST ISSUE
A plan by U.S. semiconductor firms to
cooperate in a manufacturing facility to compete with firms in
Japan could conflict with anti-monopoly law, the plan's backers
said.
    The Semiconductor Industry Association announced at a news
conference a plan for a consortium to be known as SEMATECH to
build an advanced semiconductor manufacturing plant.
    Asked whether U.S. antitrust regulators might object,
Charles Sporck, president of National Semiconductor Corp, said,
"That is a possibility."
    Sporck said the Defense Department had a strong interest in
the project but he declined to estimate how much would be
sought from the government or how much funding SEMATECH would
require.
    Sporck said the group hopes to have an operational plan
ready by June 1.
    Then it will search for a site for the manufacturing
facility and an executive to head up the consortium.
    The consortium could be operating by the end of the year,
and the facility working in 18 months, he said.
    International Business Machines Corp hopes to participate
in the effort, Paul Low, an IBM executive, said.
    He said the project suppliers of raw materials and others
vital to the semiconductor industry, such as toolmakers, would
be invited to participate.
    Sporck said no decision was made on what product would be
produced, stressing that the emphasis was on developing
technology and sharing that with firms which belonged to
SEMATECH. Other aspects were still undecided, such as whether a
Japanese firm with a facility in the United States would be
allowed to participate, he said.
 Reuter
