The potential for industrial policy: Lessons from the very high speed integrated circuit program

A Pentagon program to advance semiconductor technology offers some important empirical evidence for the national debate over industrial policy. While not an explicit attempt at promoting international competitiveness, the Very High Speed Integrated Circuit (VHSIC) program does contain a whole series of industrial policy-like features, including joint government-industry planning, widespread industry participation, and multifirm collaboration. These striking features cannot be attributed solely to VHSIC's affiliation with the military. Instead, the sources of the program's industrial policy characteristics are to be found in the nature of the technologies selected for development, the incorporation of private sector advice, the mitigation of threats to proprietary interests, avoidance of redistributional issues, and the utilization of industry competition and networks of communication-all factors directly relevant to industrial policymaking generally.