ABSTRACT
In this and the succeeding chapter, we turn to examine the origins and evolution of US semiconductor production in the developing countries of East Asia. In the current chapter, I argue that while initially US manufacturers may have invested in production facilities in East Asia in order to reduce costs by applying the region’s huge supplies of cheap labour to production, the subsequent development of the industry there cannot be understood in terms of such a narrow, unicausal explanation. Specifically, I suggest that a distinct regional division of labour has now emerged with its own (albeit crudely defined) ‘cores’ and ‘peripheries’. The emergence of these cores has not been associated with their supplies of cheap manual labour, but if anything, with their increasing ability to provide good quality engineering and technical labour, with the development (in some, though not all cases) of their own semiconductor production complexes, and finally, with particular forms of state intervention.
