Many companies invested in the United States because they believed the breadth of research and development coupled with the skilled workforce would help them meet the growing demand for their products.
Much of this demand was fuelled by the personal computing industry, which required increasingly smaller and more powerful semiconductors to keep up with continuous improvement in the performance and capabilities of desktop and laptop computers.
Now, the demand for semiconductors is changing and the geographic center of the industry appears to be continuing its migration to China and the rest of Asia, including South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. Although computers still need powerful semiconductors, the demand from this maturing industry is being superseded by the demand for consumer products. MP3 players, digital cameras, televisions, wireless handsets and even automotive devices such as global positioning systems are now fuelling the industry. In addition to this fundamental change, there seems to be a shift of capital and investment and research and development investment away from the United States to China and the rest of Asia and this region is increasing in importance as an end market for semiconductors.