Unmasking the interplay between technology evolution and R&D collaboration: Evidence from the global semiconductor manufacturing industry, 1990-2010

Technological progress in an industry is enabled by the collective R&D efforts of suppliers, users and research organizations. In this study, we explore how the pattern of R&D collaboration within the industry community evolves over the technology life cycle. We propose that as the technology evolves from an initial emergence stage to subsequent stages of growth and maturity, there is a corresponding change in the opportunities and challenges confronting industry participants. This results in a shift not only in the relative propensities for internal and collaborative R&D, but also in the distribution of the different types of collaborative interactions involving research organizations, suppliers and users. The context for the study is the global semiconductor manufacturing industry from 1990 to 2010. During this period, the industry experienced exponential technological progress that was fueled by the deep ultraviolet (DUV) manufacturing technology. We draw upon a comprehensive archival dataset of more than 12,000 articles presented in industry technical conferences to analyze the pattern of collaborative R&D during the emergence, growth and maturity stages of the DUV technology. The observed trends in the semiconductor manufacturing industry point to intriguing shifts in the efforts and interactions among suppliers, users and research organizations as they collectively push the technology envelope forward.