An agent-based framework for information exchange in semiconductor supply chains

Abstract

Supply chains have received considerable interest from businesses and academic communities in recent years. It is especially an issue of substantial importance in an industry such as semiconductor manufacturing which possesses a uniquely vertical integrated structure and demands cost-effective and timely flow of production and information. There are four major segments in the semiconductor industry and its supply chain: design, fabrication (fab), packaging and testing, and support. This article attempts to provide an integrated perspective on the information exchange process and propose an agent-based information exchange framework to facilitate free flow of information across the supply chain. Four types of information exchange, namely production, capacity, logistics, and engineering, are defined and three information-exchange methods adopted in the semiconductor supply chain are examined as well. This paper further locates the bottlenecks in information sharing within the semiconductor supply chain, such as IT barriers, data format, integration, timeliness, and accuracy, and moves on to discuss the implications of the proposed framework.