A Study on the Evolution of Collaboration between Foundry and IC Design House

• Main Authors: Su-Fen Chiu, 邱素芬
• Other Authors: Ruey-Shan Guo
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/74867149939131660008

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 商學研究所 === 95 === In the last decade, the semiconductor industry has evolved from vertically integrated to vertical disintegration structure. The Foundry/Fabless model has become the core of the vertical disintegration structure. As design and manufacturing complexities continue to increase, the interdependence between process technology and product design also increases significantly. It is becoming less practical for a Foundry to internally develop advanced process technology without collaborating with a IC design house. A newly collaborative mechanism for design-for-manufacturing is required. The goals of this study are to explore the evolutionary business models between the Foundry and Fabless. By conducting field interviews and empirical study, this research will summarize different phases of business models, describe the transaction targets, and provide some managerial implications. By three-layered framework to describe the evolutionary business models in which the strategic goal, value proposition and engineering processes are defined. There are three phases in the evolutionary business models. Before 0.25um technology, the Foundry/Fabless relationship can be described as a transaction-based relationship. In this phase, Foundry focus their core competency on manufacturing capability and provide logistics services to many Fabless design houses because of their economies of scale. They also provide better manufacturing services such as turnkey service, on-line order tracking and yield data access. The critical factor for this relationship is to have reliable and flexible manufacturing resources. For 0.18um and 0.13um technology, the relationship has evolved to be partnership-based and advanced process capability becomes another important value proposition. As a result, engineering processes emphasize technology development such as yield enhancement, AEC/APC, and IP/Library access. The critical factor for this relationship is to have quick yield ramp-up and verified advanced processes. As technology enters into 90nm and below, design complexity and manufacturability become the key issues. The relationship is now collaboration-based. For DFY and DFM purposes, engineering processes such as design service, reference flow, Litho/CMP friendly design, and engineering chain collaboration become important tasks. The critical factor for this relationship is to have lower risks in capital investment and technology development to facilitate rapid time-to-market.