台灣電腦晶片組廠商在固態硬碟控制晶片產品之機會與競爭優勢研究---以L公司為例

Abstract

固態硬碟是近兩年來蓬勃發展的產品，其高速度、耐震、省電的特性吸引業界的目光。在固態硬碟的各個元件中，控制晶片可說是固態硬碟的大腦，主導該產品的穩定性、效能、耐久度、成本等特性，是目前開發固態硬碟仍待突破的技術瓶頸。台灣IC設計公司爭相投入此一產品的研發，設法取得技術領先，藉以在此具有潛力的市場佔有一席之地。而逐漸淡出原有核心晶片組市場的台灣晶片組廠商，亟待開發新的產品市場，新興且具潛力的固態硬碟市場自然也是其探尋機會的目標之一。 藉由破壞性創新理論、技術產品生命週期等理論，本研究對固態硬碟發展的大環境進行有系統地分析：固態硬碟處於一個具備充分創新動機、但創新能力尚不足的發展環境，對於市場在位者───傳統硬碟廠商，固態硬碟直接侵蝕到其主要的產品市場───個人電腦，新進者缺乏不對稱動機保護。此外，固態硬碟如要跨越早期市場到主流市場的鴻溝，需要一個完整產品的方案，提供消費者必須迫切購買的理由。運用省電、耐震、結構簡單等不對稱的能力，利用固態硬碟和傳統硬碟的差異，尋求相對應的利基市場，是較為可行的方案。 個案L公司是台灣某主要晶片組廠商的子公司，目前主要發展晶片組中的南橋產品，企圖進入固態硬碟控制晶片的市場。本研究運用資源基礎理論，分析L公司在資源上的優勢與劣勢，配合固態硬碟市場的環境，尋找晶片組廠商在此一領域中有利的機會。本研究發現，晶片組廠商可運用整合方面的經驗所創造出的資源優勢，配合破壞性創新等觀念，在競爭激烈的固態硬碟控制晶片市場中創造差異化，為自己在此嶄新領域開創藍海市場，再創高峰。

The development of the solid state drive mushrooms in recent two years. The features of the product: high performance, low power consumption, and vibration endurance, attract the attention of the computing industry. The controller chip, one of the essential components of the solid state drive, dominates the stability, performance, endurance, and cost of the whole product. Many Taiwan IC design houses are involving in developing the technology, attempting to acquire a leading edge in the potential market. Taiwan chipset companies, which is retreating from their original core-logic chipset market and searching for new opportunities, are also eager to participate in the vibrant competition. The study takes advantage of some models, such as disruptive innovation theory and technology adoption life cycles, to do a systematic analysis of the environment of the developing of the solid state drives. The development of the solid state drives is in a phase teeming with motivations but lack of ability. Impacting the essential field, the computer market, the traditional hard-drive companies, such as WD and Seagate, must intensely strike back. There is no asymmetric motivation to protect the new challengers, the solid-state drive developers. Moreover, the innovators should come up with a “whole product “ solution, a compelling reason for the target customers to buy the product, in order to cross the chasm between early market and mainstream market. Differentiating the solid state disks from traditional hard drives by strengthening the asymmetric abilities of the product is a more viable strategy. L Company is a subsidiary of one of the Taiwan core-logic chipset design houses. The chief product of the L Company is the south bridge chipset of PC motherboard. L Company anticipates entering the market of the solid state drive controller. The thesis report draws on the resource-based view to analyze the advantages and the disadvantages for L Company in the competition of developing the product for the future. The study finds that the chipset design houses, like L Company, have an advantage of the ability of the integration. Combining the special resource with the strategy of the disruptive innovation and whole product, a original core-logic chipset developer can differentiate itself in the competition of the new market and establish a novel blue sea market.