ESTIMATING THE BENEFITS FROM COLLABORATION - THE CASE OF SEMATECH

SEMATECH (SEmiconductor MAnufacturing TECHnology) was established in 1 987 as a not-for-profit research consortium with an original mission t o provide a pilot manufacturing facility where member companies could improve their semiconductor manufacturing process technology. Since it s inception, SEMATECH's mission has become more general. This paper pr esents the findings from a quantitative case-based analysis of the ret urns to member companies from their investments in SEMATECH. The findi ngs suggest that SEMATECH has provided an organizational structure in which important processes and technologies have been advanced which co uld not have been justified on economic grounds outside of a collabora tive research arrangement.