The San Jose-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) Thursday applauded U.S. trade representative Rob Portman for initiating talks with Korea on a Free Trade Agreement.

Free trade agreements can address a number of areas that are of importance to the U.S. semiconductor industry, including tariff and non-tariff barriers, standards, customs procedures, transparency, intellectual property protection, and targeted support for specific industries, among others, the organization noted.

“Korea is a significant market for American semiconductor producers -- in 2005, the Korean semiconductor market was approximately $4.5 billion,” said SIA president George Scalise, in a statement.

“Estimates show that growth in the Korean semiconductor market will outpace growth in the rest of the world over the next four years, adding to the potential benefits this agreement could yield,” he continued.

A free trade agreement also has the potential to increase sales of a broad range of information technology products that utilize semiconductors, the SIA believes.

“Almost three quarters of our manufacturing capacity is in the U.S., while less than a third of our sales are in this country. U.S. semiconductor producers are the most competitive in the world -- when SIA’s members are allowed to compete unencumbered by barriers to trade they succeed. I applaud Ambassador Portman's efforts to ensure that U.S. semiconductor makers are able to compete in all world markets,” Scalise concluded.

By: DocMemory
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