Laura Peters

Halla’s Perfect Storm of Technology Neglect
September 26, 2008

Back in 2005, I sat in on a great keynote speech by Brian Halla, CEO and President of National Semiconductor, who talked about the lack of U.S. competitiveness in science and technology. Halla tells the story of the rallying cry among Americans that followed Russia’s launch of Sputnick satellite in 1957, and  the U.S. response with the subsequent voyage to and landing of a man on the moon in 1969. He said the entire nation was behind that feat and a similar effort is required in modern times to revitalize science and technology in the U.S.

July 20, 1969, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin stands beside a solar wind experiment on the moon, with the lunar module (LM) in the background. (Source: NASA)

In 2005, when discussing what Americans would get behind, Halla said, “'ask anyone, if the government spent $10 billion creating independence from other countries for our energy, for our oil,' would we do it? We'd do it in a heartbeat,” he said, as was reported by Manufacturing and Technology News.¹

Of course, this was back in 2005 when gasoline prices really weren’t too high.

As I sat reading the news this week of the US governments’ emergency financial plans to save our faltering economy, it occurred to me that all of the strategies seem to be stop-gaps, and do nothing to address underlying, long term problems. Of course, I am not an economist – I try to focus on being more in tune with fab engineers and equipment and materials guys who know how to make things work. In light of that, my suggestion for an ailing economy comes from a different perspective:

Could we quickly assess how, when and where renewable energies could be most effectively applied in our country and make those investments more attractive to investors – i.e., give reasonable incentives? With the right types of investments, solar energy could reach grid parity in around 2 years. Wind energy, biofuels, electric and hybrid cars and geothermal energy all have their roles to play in different geographic regions and different applications. Best of all, I think the new energy economy has the potential to address our greatest problem right now – job creation.

The underlying problem of job loss must be addressed. This isn’t just about manufacturing jobs that have been lost, but engineering and research jobs as well as many higher level jobs that are the inevitable result of a global economy.

Instead of taking the very risky move of printing lots of money (which will only lead to inflation) and continuing to bail out institutions that took risks they never should have to begin with, the leaders of this country need to start addressing the big picture to make the economy more stable.

I am reminded of something that Halla freely admitted during his keynote. That whenever he gives one of his talks about U.S. competitiveness at technical conferences, one of the key problems is that he’s “preaching to the choir.” This discussion of what we have learned from the semiconductor industry globalization must be taken to the general population.

The time is right for the U.S. government to provide strong incentives for renewable energy to create jobs – jobs for engineers and skilled labor. This will fuel our economic recovery, while lessening our reliance on fossil fuel and natural gas suppliers. This is not a partisan issue. It’s a basic business issue involving sound investments and adequate returns – investing in something that can feed upon itself and inspire the next generation of frontiersmen.

Reference

K. Jacobson, “National Semiconductor CEO Brian Halla: 'We are Sitting in the Middle of a Perfect Storm of Technology Neglect',” Manufacturing & Technology News, October 12, 2005.

Posted by Laura Peters on September 26, 2008 | Comments (0)