台灣EDA軟體公司之進入與退出策略-以E 公司為例

Abstract

在晶片設計紛紛走向SoC，以符合電子產品輕薄短小的特性的趨勢之下，半導體產業價值鏈逐漸衍生出IC 設計產業的鏈結，使得價值鏈逐漸拉長。其中，IP 重複使用的概念成為焦點，晶片設計的複雜度也日趨困難。EDA 產業是輔助IC 設計朝向更高階設計及解決設計難題的產業，扮演著輔助IC 設計產業的角色，兩者之間關係密切。EDA 產業有其特殊性，EDA的市場規模成長很小，新興EDA廠商又不斷增加，在餅做不大的情況之下，大廠藉由陸續併購在特定應用具備獨到之處的小型EDA廠商，藉以維持技術優勢，並且創造足夠的經濟規模來維持新技術的開發與公司的運轉。EDA 全球前三大廠商分別為 Cadence, Synopsys 及 Mentor Graphics。透過不斷購併，使得他們有能力在設計流程各階段推出EDA 工具，三家廠商的全球市佔率達到70%。台灣的EDA 產業廠商並不多，也都清楚的將公司定位在某一單點的關鍵工具研發經營上，但在高度集中化的產業環境下，小公司對永續經營應該有另一個層面的思考。本研究的主要目的在探討策略定訂策略的個元素：定位、取捨及配適性，並以實際個案探討台灣EDA 公司的經營者該如何思考公司永續經營的形態，期望提供台灣EDA 公司思考公司經營策略的參考。

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.