In August of 1990 I joined SEMATECH for a one-year assignment that, among many benefits, brought me to Austin.\u00a0 In those days, SEMATECH was a great place to work, full of energy and promise (and yes, too much politics as well). \u00a0The pre-competitive research consortium wasn\u2019t very efficient at spending money to make a difference, but it most definitely made a difference.\u00a0 It was what the US industry needed at a time of competitive uncertainty, and it attracted some really great people working in a uniquely collaborative environment.<\/p>\n
Ten days ago SEMATECH announced its own dissolution, as it merges with SUNY Polytechnic Institute in its new home in Albany.\u00a0 It saddens me to say that my first thought at hearing this news was \u201cten years too late\u201d.\u00a0 While SEMATECH was the right organization at the right time in the 1990s, it lost its way in the 2000s and never recovered.\u00a0 As the semiconductor industry, and the world, changed to be more global, SEMATECH\u2019s original mission of shoring up the US semiconductor industry became obsolete.\u00a0 But instead of recognizing its fading value, SEMATECH proved the first law of organization:\u00a0 organizations strive first and foremost for the survival of the organization. \u00a0With all due respect to the many good people that worked there over the years (and still do today), the survival of SEMATECH became the primary goal of SEMATECH, with helping the semiconductor industry a distant second.\u00a0 They left Austin in 2010 chasing money that the State of New York dangled in front of them, and completed their slide into irrelevance.<\/p>\n
So, it is with decidedly mixed feelings that I say goodbye to SEMATECH.\u00a0 The last decade has been one of lost opportunity for the organization, but their accomplishments over the years are worth remembering.\u00a0 Mostly, though, I\u2019ll remember the many good people, and good friends, that SEMATECH brought my way.<\/p>\n
Salute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In August of 1990 I joined SEMATECH for a one-year assignment that, among many benefits, brought me to Austin.\u00a0 In those days, SEMATECH was a great place to work, full of energy and promise (and yes, too much politics as well). \u00a0The pre-competitive research consortium wasn\u2019t very efficient at spending money to make a difference, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lithoguru.com\/life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lithoguru.com\/life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lithoguru.com\/life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithoguru.com\/life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithoguru.com\/life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=457"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lithoguru.com\/life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":458,"href":"https:\/\/lithoguru.com\/life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457\/revisions\/458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lithoguru.com\/life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithoguru.com\/life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithoguru.com\/life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}