But most businesses aren't as complex as chip manufacturing.
Improvements in chip manufacturing allowed more circuitry to be placed on the same chip, and designers started looking for ways to use it.
Alongside the advances in chip manufacturing, advanced chip packaging techniques were also pursued by the company.
At its most basic level, chip manufacturing today is similar to what goes on when you take your film to a camera shop for processing and printing.
Much of the chip manufacturing that had its birth in this region has moved to other states and other countries.
Much of that growth, particularly in chip manufacturing, was directly related to Sematech's presence, according to economists and industry analysts.
But the approach makes it possible to add the technique to mainstream chip manufacturing.
Others defend the industry's approach, saying that it would be ridiculous to turn American manufacturers into "design shops" and send most chip manufacturing abroad.
Recently some electronics companies have been discussing ways of providing incentives to stimulate American chip manufacturing.
As might be expected, the Japanese excel at chip manufacturing, achieving, compared with ours, both lower costs and superior quality.