SIA Joins Call for for Government Policies That Drive Innovation

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The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), along with a coalition of more than 250 technology, business and academic leaders, today called on government leaders to enact a set of policies that promote growth and innovation. The groups outlined these recommendations in a document called “Innovation: An American Imperative,” which is aimed at federal policymakers.

“The United States and our competitors abroad are engaged in a race to discover the next great innovations that will determine global technology leadership,” said John Neuffer, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. “The policies outlined in the ‘Innovation Imperative’ will help the United States rise to this challenge, win the race, and remain at the forefront of innovation.”

To maintain America’s economic strength, technology leadership and global competitiveness, the ‘Innovation Imperative’ calls on policymakers to do the following:

• End sequestration’s deep cuts to federal investments in R&D
• Make permanent a strengthened federal R&D tax credit
• Improve student achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
• Reform U.S. visa policy
• Streamline or eliminate costly and inefficient regulations
• Reaffirm merit-based peer review
• Stimulate further improvements in advanced manufacturing

With Congress currently considering various government funding measures, the time to invest in scientific research is now. Over the last two decades, the United States has fallen to 10th place in R&D investment as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and development (OECD) nations. At this pace, China will surpass the United States in R&D intensity in about eight years.

“When it comes to investing in research, the U.S. semiconductor industry puts its money where its mouth is, investing more of its revenue in R&D than any other industry,” said Neuffer. “Together with other technology, business and academic leaders, we ask the federal government to hold up its end of the partnership by removing roadblocks to innovation and recommitting to robust and sustained investments in basic research.”

About SIA

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is the voice of the U.S. semiconductor industry, one of America's top export industries and a key driver of America’s economic strength, national security and global competitiveness. Semiconductors – microchips that control all modern electronics – enable the systems and products we use to work, communicate, travel, entertain, harness energy, treat illness, and make new scientific discoveries. The semiconductor industry directly employs nearly a quarter of a million people in the U.S. In 2014, U.S. semiconductor company sales totaled $173 billion, and semiconductors make the global trillion dollar electronics industry possible. Founded in 1977 by five microelectronics pioneers, SIA unites companies that account for 80 percent of America’s semiconductor production. Through this coalition, SIA seeks to strengthen U.S. leadership of semiconductor design and manufacturing by working with Congress, the Administration and other key industry stakeholders to encourage policies and regulations that fuel innovation, propel business and drive international competition.