台灣嵌入式軟體產業興業策略探討

Abstract

我國是全球資訊通訊產業的重鎮，也是全球主要的資訊通訊產品的專業代工與全球運籌中心之一，在後PC時代，台灣憑藉著過去在資訊通訊產業近三十年一步一腳印所建立起的資訊通訊硬體上中下游產業架構與產業聚落，配合中小企業產業型態所特有的高生產效率與彈性，以及強大的全球運籌能力，在面對後PC時代與資訊家電（Information Appliances）興起的時刻，卻無法擺脫營收大幅成長，但利潤空間卻日漸被壓縮的惡夢，既有的專業代工模式與產業價值鏈定位已到了不得不重新審視的階段。 以ODM為導向的台灣資訊通訊與資訊家電產業在上游晶片組廠商競相提出完整的解決方案，造成產業價值鏈移轉的趨勢下，加以國際品牌通路掌握在國際品牌大廠手中，我國如何透過建立我國嵌入式軟體產業以提升我國製造與IC設計優勢，強化我國在後PC時代資通訊產業與資訊家電業產業的全球競爭力，為本研究所欲探討的議題。 我國嵌入式軟體的研發主要是集中於政府所支持的法人科技專案，法人科專的研發雖已日漸成熟完備，但是卻無法大幅提升或支援我國製造與IC設計優勢，實係因我國缺乏一套建構嵌入式軟體產業的策略規劃與實踐的佈局，要發展我國嵌入式軟體產業，主要應以目標導向的tight-couple方式緊密結合法人科專、晶片組廠商及製造廠商。有效運用政府法人科專投資，結合我國生產製造與運籌優勢及IC設計優勢形成槓桿效益，強化我國產業價值鏈的競爭力。政府應透過計畫預算持續扮演法人科專團隊育成中心的角色，依產業個別狀況，在累積穩定客戶群或有廠商願意投資的狀況下，將法人團隊獨立成民營企業，強化我國資通產業與資訊家電產業的軟體研發能力，以建構我國嵌入式軟體產業，強化我國資通產業與資訊家電產業價值鏈競爭力。

In the post-PC era, Taiwan’s IT hardware manufacturers face serious profit margin shrink-down due to increasing concentration of global buyers and constant price compeititon at the end market. Although Taiwanese firms have comptencies in post-architeture product development, build-to-configuration manufacturing systems, industrial clusters and global logistic, it is about time to review the sustainability of the existing ODM model and its value proposition. The chipset vendors make the value chain shift by offering the total solution to the manufacturers, and the brands have the strong power to the distribution channels. Both of them drive the profit margin of the ODM players going down. Alternatively, if Taiwan could aggressively build up embedded software industry, it could enhance Taiwan’s hardware manufacturers and IC designers provision of value creation, which in turn could enhance Taiwan’s global competitiveness. While currently the embedded software industry does not exist in Taiwan, the present research will evaluate the potential of embedded software industry and suggest feasible ways for our government to initiate the industry development. This research found that although Taiwan government keeps sponsoring the projects related to the embedded software development, the eventual outcomes are not satifactory. That is because the current commitment, strategy and framework are not adequate to building up the industry. We suggest the use of target-oriented tight-couple model to integrate the resources from government, IC design vendors, manufacturers and R&D parties. We should leverage and integrate the competitive advantages of Taiwan’s ODM capabilities, global logistic and IC design with the government budgets in more effective ways to enhance Taiwan’s competitive advantages on the IT industry value chain. Moreover, government should perform the role of an incubator by sponsoring the pioneering projects and transforming the core project teams to be entrepreneurial teams, or transfering them to the chipset vendors or ODM players who have commitements in this area, through which capabilities, experiences and experts can be accumulated. Policy implications and strategic recommendations are also discussed.