The economic benefits of this technology are helping to keep inflation low as well. Without semiconductors, there could be no World Wide Web. Forecasts call for significant increases in the number of appliances connected to the Internet, from PCs and information appliances to cell phones with web capabilities. In unit terms, there were 200 million Internet-connected devices in 1999 and that number is expected to more than triple to 700 million to 1 billion by 2003. Growth in the Internet is directly fuelling a growth in demand for semiconductors.
Semiconductor manufacturing provides high value added jobs around the world.
The semiconductor industry is also the foundation for many other high technology industries and adds considerable value to the gross domestic product of manufacturing nations. The associations representing the world s leading semiconductor producers strongly encourage our governments to pursue policies that will foster growth, rather than encumber the development of the Internet and electronic commerce. Currently, electronic transmissions are not subject to tariffs. The imposition of new tariffs on Internet transmissions could significantly slow growth in this sector. The members of the WSC believe that the WTO moratorium should be made permanent and binding.