台灣EDA軟體公司之進入與退出策略-以E 公司為例

Abstract

The trend of System on Chip (SoC) has become the main stream of IC chip design, and the special characteristics of the “light, thin, short and small” have also been emphasized in the new electronic products. The semiconductor industry value chain is gradually lengthened because of the addition of the IC design segment. The concept of repeating usage of IP becomes the focus, therefore the complexity of the chip design becoming extremely complicated. A new industry, EDA (Electronic Design Automation), is therefore developed to aid IC designers for resolving the IC design complexities toward a more high-end product. EDA plays an important role in today’s IC design business. The EDA industry has its own particularities. While the market size is very small new EDA vendors are still emerging. Under these circumstances, the leading EDA vendors acquire specialized small vendors to maintain technological leadership and to create economies of scale. The three top global EDA vendors were Cadence, Synopsys and Mentor Graphics. Through mergers and acquisitions, they have the ability to launch EDA tools various stages of design flow for and achieve 70% global market share. Where the number of Taiwan's EDA companies is very few, they all are well-positioned in their own niche market. Under such a complex industrial environment, the sustainability of small companies has become extremely challenges. The main purpose of this study is to explore the strategic thinking according to a form’s positioning, trade-offs and fitness. Using an actual case of a small EDA company to illustrate its sustainable strategies, the thesis provides some different strategic thinking for Taiwan’s SME EDA companies.