The adoption of application-specific IC technology by the UK manufacturing base

In spite of continued marketing by semiconductor companies, distributors and design houses, the uptake of application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) technology in the UK continues to lag behind that of its leading competitor nations. The reasons for this slow uptake are reviewed with reference to a number of surveys performed by the author and others. The author proposes a model for technology transfer that would be likely to increase the level of adoption and reviews the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) `Microelectronics in Business´ initiative in this light