Much of the new Japanese push into China is in semiconductor design and production, long an area of Japanese strength.

All new semiconductor designs build on earlier, patented technology, so rather than getting bogged down in endless court cases two industry practices emerged.

And the United States is no longer the largest producer or the clear technological leader in semiconductor design and manufacture.

It is highly unlikely that semiconductor designs will be considered to be artistic works.

The Soviets will provide semiconductor designs that Cypress would modify for production in its manufacturing plants for sale to United States customers.

Few industries are as important as semiconductor design and manufacturing because the chips are the brains behind computers, cellphones, digital cameras and many other products.

The company handled semiconductor design and firmware development, while subcontracting the actual semiconductor manufacturing to merchant foundries.

It expanded exports of machine tools, defense products (under the S&T Daewoo company), aerospace interests, and semiconductor design and manufacturing.

This is the third major advance in semiconductor design and fabrication that I.B.M. has announced in the last year.

Samir Palnitkar is the author of two books on semiconductor design.