economic development

Below is the extended version of an Op-Ed by Applied Materials chairman and CEO Mike Splinter which was published in Dow Jones today:

In 1960 the semiconductor industry was in its infancy. The first integrated circuits contained just a few transistors and the production costs were about $1,000 per circuit in 1960 dollars.  The only viable applications for this early technology were two programs, the Minuteman missile and the Apollo space program. And these programs bought nearly every circuit produced between 1960 and 1963.

The result of this early market creation by these government programs was that the cost per circuit dropped to an astonishing 98 percent to $25 by 1963 -- and an industry was born. This year, the world will produce about a quintillion transistors or one to the 18th power and the semiconductor industry will generate about $300 billion in revenue. As for the cost per transistor – today’s $200 MP3 player produced in 1975 would have cost about $3 billion.

MANUFACTURE AND GENERATE CLEAN ENERGY LOCALLY. RECIRCULATE YOUR ENERGY DOLLARS LOCALLY. It’s a concept that’s pretty hard to argue. Most recognize that taking advantage of the Sun's energy addresses greenhouse gas emissions, but this post isn’t aimed at making more sweeping claims that solar will save the planet.