Measuring the Role of Technology-Push and Demand-Pull in the Dynamic Development of the Semiconductor Industry: The Case of the Global DRAM Market

Abstract

This paper reexamines and resolves the long dispute over the source of technological innovation by suggesting an integrated technology-push and demand-pull model. We derive an equilibrium model within the framework of differentiated product analysis and explain the dynamic interaction between these two sources of innovation. Based on the empirical analysis of the global DRAM market, we show that the relative importance of technology-push and demand- pull in technological innovation is described by an L-type curve which describes the phenomenon where technology-push is greater than demand-pull in the early stages and then decreases as demand-pull becomes greater. Our finding suggests that the role of supply and demand is different in inducing technological change and their relative importance changes with product development over the technological life cycle; the marginal prices of products are an important factor in determining the principal forces of technological innovation between these two sources.

JEL classification codes:

• O32
• O31

Key words:

• sources of technological innovation
• technology-push
• demand-pull
• Nash equilibrium of technological innovation
• DRAM