In almost all years of semiconductor industry's history, research and development spending of the public semiconductor companies has increased. Only three years in the last 25 showed a decrease in spending and only two of those decreases were material (near 10%), 2001 and 2009.

Keeping up with Moore’s Law is expensive, so semiconductor R&D tends to grow at the same rate as semiconductor revenue growth, unlike industries that reduce R&D spending as a percentage of revenue as they mature. Yet will this trend continue?

Continue Reading on EE Times.