Chipmakers tell America to sort itself out

George Scalise, head of the Semiconductor Industry Association, told the Salt Lake Tribune that the writing will appear on the wall within two years if the government does not get its finger out.

Scalise, a former executive with AMD and Motorola said that the US is spending piddling amounts on education in sciences and is not giving foreign engineering graduates work visas.

It is doing nothing to make the place look attractive to chip companies who are increasingly moving manufacturing abroad.

US share of chip making in the most advanced plants fell to less than 15 per cent in 2005 from 35 percent in 1999.

Currently 80 percent of planned new semiconductor plants are for construction outside the US. If the government doesn't sort itself out within two years, there will be no chip making in the US within five years, Scalise suggested.

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