SEMI urges swift extension of R&D tax credit

Today, SEMI joined hundreds of other affected US companies and industry groups to strongly urge Congress to extend the R&D tax credit immediately. Congress may postpone until next year a tax extenders package that is expected to include an R&D tax credit extension of either one or two years. The current credit expires on December 31, 2007 and a delay would cause a lapse.

The semiconductor equipment and materials industry is highly dependent on R&D, and SEMI represents nearly 800 member companies in the US that provide thousands of high-wage paying jobs for Americans. These companies face some of the highest R&D costs due to the fast-paced and complex challenges of microelectronics. On average, they spend between 10 and 15 percent of their revenues on R&D for advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes and technology. Some industry segments, like lithography, incur even greater costs.

"We urge the Congress to extend the R&D tax credit without delay," stated SEMI North America President, Victoria Hadfield. "We are pleased that Congress has made innovation a priority this year. The R&D tax credit is a key piece of the innovation agenda and it will lapse at the end of the year without an immediate extension. Now is the time to act."

"The R&D tax credit is a vital incentive for companies to conduct their R&D in the United States." Hadfield continued, "The United States was the first nation to establish a credit for R&D, but we now trail more than a dozen other countries that have established R&D tax credits with greater benefits to companies. SEMI supports a permanent credit so that high-tech companies can effectively plan for long term R&D."