Semiconductor Foundry Technology Life Cycle Strategy Portfolio Definitions of Fabless IC Design Firms by Using the ISM and Fuzzy Integral Method

Abstract

Fabless integrated circuit (IC) design firms are the semiconductor companies without wafer fabrication facilities. Thus, appropriate semiconductor foundry strategies are critical for the fables IC design firms\' profitability. Further, due to the various characteristics of the semiconductor wafer foundry industry versus each stage of a technology life cycle (TLC), the foundry strategies of the fabless IC design firms should further be defined based on the characteristics of each stage of a TLC. Albeit important, very few past researches tried to illustrate the foundry strategies of fabless IC design firms, not to mention the considerations about foundry strategy portfolios definition versus the concept of TLC. Thus, this research aims to develop a fuzzy integral based fuzzy multiple criteria decision making (FMCDM) framework for defining foundry strategies versus each stage of a TLC by using the interpretive structure modeling (ISM), fuzzy analytic hierarchical process (FAHP) and the non-additive fuzzy integral method. By inviting twenty one industry experts from leading semiconductor foundries, fabless IC design firms as well as IC design service companies, strategy portfolios versus each stage of a TLC were developed.