ABSTRACT
The importance of microelectronics as a technology rests on its wide application and the changes it produces in the manufacture of products in which microchips or microprocessors form a component. Microelectronics policy in Britain has been dominated by the structure of the world market. The history of microelectronics policy in Britain is similar to that of data processing. By the mid 1960s, the Americans were already dominating both the world and British markets. The 1964 Labour Government attempted to protect the domestic economy from the flood of American components by tariff barriers. High tariff barriers encouraged multinational companies to circumvent those barriers by inward investment. Whilst the National Economic Development Council was busy discussing a strategy for the industry, the National Enterprise Board had also laid its own plans to support a part British owned company, Inmos, to manufacture standard chips.
