MP3解碼控制晶片IC設計公司經營績效之案例分析

Abstract

IC設計公司在台灣半導體產業而言，是非常重要的一環，在全球也佔有舉足輕重的地位；而在中國發展半導體產業的計畫中，也對IC設計公司多所扶持。中國自2001年開始的「十五計劃」，將半導體產業訂為重點扶植產業，以獎勵出口和吸引外資投資的方式，配合稅負上的多項優惠政策，使中國的IC設計公司數目公司數目由2001年的98家，到了2004年底增加到421家，產值在2005年時也達到一百二十億人民幣的規模。然而與美國及台灣的IC設計公司相比，中國的IC設計公司由於發展時間較晚，專業人才數目不足，以及在智慧財產權方面的實力較弱等種種因素，多半屬於規模較小、產品較低階的公司，在國際上競爭力較弱。 在眾多的中國IC設計公司當中，2001年成立的珠海炬力集成電路公司的表現就顯得非常突出。在風靡全球的可攜式MP3播放器，其核心的MP3解碼控制IC原本是由美國的SigmaTel公司居領先的地位，但是炬力集成卻得以後來居上，成為全球市佔率最高的公司。 本研究的主要目的，就是針對這兩家分別位於美國與中國的IC設計公司的發展過程及經營績效作分析，另外還對照高科技產品技術採用生命週期，分析MP3播放器市場演進過程，以及兩家公司競爭過程中地位之消長，並配合中國半導體產業發展現況以及產業扶植政策的了解，來探討後進的炬力集成如何打敗競爭對手的成功因素，並藉此對台灣的IC設計公司在未來的競爭策略上提供參考。

Taiwan’s IC design companies have been playing a very important role in the worldwide semiconductor industry. And in recent years, the Chinese government has also been very aggressive in promoting China’s IC design companies. Starting from 2001, the “Tenth Five-Year Economy Planning” encouraged China’s semiconductor industry development by providing various preferences on tax treatments or foreign investment, and the number of China’s IC design companies increased from 98 to 421 during the period of 2001 to 2004. Compared with competitors in US and Taiwan, the Chinese companies are generally less competitive, due to late entrance to market, limited number of experienced staffs, and weaker intellectual property portforlio. Among all the Chinese IC design companies, the Actions Semiconductor founded in 2001 has made very distinguished performance. US-based SigmaTel was the dominant player in providing the MP3 decoder controller IC for the popular portable MP3 players, but the late-coming Actions Semiconductor was able to catch up and has eventually become the market leader in the world. The main focus of this thesis is to analyze the competition and performance evaluation between these two companies, and the competition between these two companies based on the Technology Adoption Life Cycle model, combined with the understanding in China’s semiconductor industry development status and government policies, to find out the successful factors of Actions Semiconductor, and to provide some references on the competition strategies for Taiwan’s IC design companies.