TOKYO -- As the growing complexity of semiconductor manufacturing spurs equipment suppliers to work ever more closely with chipmakers, some are spending big on moving physically closer to their customers for a competitive edge.
Hitachi High-Tech's new research and development center in Oregon is a prime example. The center, which opened last fall, consolidated the Japanese company's three existing facilities in the U.S. West Coast state into a single, bigger site just a 10-minute drive from an Intel plant for advanced semiconductors.
