手機公司整合IC設計之趨勢 – 以蘋果公司為例

Abstract

世界IC產業發展的趨勢是朝向專業分工，在這個趨勢下，發展出了整合元件製造廠（IDM，Integrated Device Manufacturer），無晶圓廠IC設計公司（Fabless Design House），專業半導體晶圓代工（Foundry）、封裝測試業（Assembly & Testing）和專業矽智財供應商（IP Design House）。這趨勢讓電子系統廠商專心在電子產品的系統開發和銷售上，但是，最近幾年趨勢有了改變，以手機業者為例，開始反向發展，跨足IC設計來進行垂直整合、達到差異化，進而提升企業價值，如蘋果公司2010年推出了自行設計、交由三星電子製造的微處理器A4，本論文以波特五力分析（Five Force Model）、一般性策略競爭、價值鏈（value chain）、價值系統與微笑曲線為基礎，以蘋果公司為例，來研究手機業者自行設計IC的趨勢。 台灣IC產業抓住了這個趨勢，是這個趨勢的擁護者、實踐者，甚至是專業半導體晶圓代工的先驅，發展至今40餘年，台灣已成為全世界第一大半導體製造代工業、第一大封裝測試業、第二大IC設計業，繼而成為IC產業第三大製造中心。而全球第一大晶圓代工的台灣，當面對全球品牌商半導體採購第一名的蘋果公司，還有其他跨足IC設計的手機業者時，台灣的專業半導體代工廠是否可與這些公司互相配合、共榮共存，創造台灣在全球半導體產業鏈的獨特性及不可取代性。

Under the trend of specialization in the global IC industry, rises the Integrated Device Manufacturer (IDM), Fabless Design House, Foundry, Assembly & Testing and IP Design House services. The specialization has enabled the electronic system manufacturers to focus on system development as well as marketing and sales. However, the trend has changed in the recent years. Take the mobile phone manufacture industry as an example, it has started to branch out to IC design for vertical integration, in order to achieve differentiation, and thus enhance the corporate value. In 2010, Apple launched the A4 processor, which was designed in-house and manufactured by Samsung. This paper will use Apple as an example to explore the in-house design trend in the mobile phone industry based on Porter’s Five Forces Model, Value Chain and Value System Analysis, as well as the Smiling Curve theory. The IC industry in Taiwan has seized the trend of specialization in the past decades to become the advocates, practitioners, and the pioneers of the professional semiconductor foundry industry. Taiwan has also established the world's largest semiconductor manufacturing industry, the largest packaging and testing industry, the second largest IC design industry, and the third largest manufacturing center in the IC industry. As the world leading semiconductor foundry industry, when facing Apple, the top semiconductor spender, and other mobile phone manufacturers with in-house design capabilities, can the professional semiconductor foundry industry in Taiwan cooperate with these companies to continue to create unique and irreplaceable values in the global semiconductor industry value chain.