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Since the booming of the semiconductor industry, the processes evolution and innovation has been the major driving force for industrial growth and application development. Due to the Internet of Things (IoT), the importance of various special semiconductor processes will rise sharply, especially the 8" wafer fab that once relegated to the supporting role will once again become an indispensable part of the future strategic plan of major semiconductor companies. Intel's co-founder Gordon Moore proposed Moore's Law in 1975, the semiconductor processed dimension has been shrunk smaller and smaller for the past 40 years and has been regarded as a golden rule by the semiconductor industry. However, as the technical difficulty and investment thresholds are getting higher and higher, the number of semiconductor companies who can keep up with Moore's Law has become less and less, so everyone consider how to find a new direction outside the track of Moore's Law has become a major topic in the semiconductor industry.
The special processes defined by TSMC include CMOS image sensors, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), chemical sensor processor, biosensor processor, N40HV high voltage process, and Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) process. Although the application fields of these processes are very different, they have a common feature: the line width is generally 90 nm or even 0.13 um, which is a relatively mature process and is suitable for mass production on 8-inch wafers. The International Semiconductor Equipment Materials Industry Association (SEMI) pointed out that applications such as the Internet of Things (IoT) are the key to revitalizing 8-inch wafers, and many of them will be produced using processes larger than 90 nm. There will be a number of new 8-inch fabs around the world, and many of the existing 8-inch plants will have expansion plans. Application requirements from areas such as the Internet of Things, such as wearable devices, automation, automotive electronics, etc., are the most important drivers for the growth of sensor component, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) process. The global demand for 8-inch wafers is expected to ride this wave of enthusiasm and a satisfactory growth rate. Although the semiconductor manufacturing leaders such as Intel, Samsung, and TSMC are still fiercely competitive in advanced process areas, there are fewer and fewer IC design companies that can afford the most advanced processes in the semiconductor industry. The long-term demand source of 8-inch wafer foundry, first of all, like MOSFET components for high voltage, high current and other needs, requires more advanced manufacturing technology, this type of product from 6-inch to 8-inch wafer trend, due to many discrete components have emerged as upgrade requirements, but the production technology of IDM's 5-inch and 6-inch fabs has not been able to keep up, so the demand for 8-inch wafer foundry orders has increased year by year. In addition, 8-inch foundry also focus on more technical applications, with a variety of sensors, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and power management IC (PMIC). In order to get out of the framework by Moore's Law as soon as possible, it is clear that the demand for various sensors, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and power management IC (PMIC) brought by applications such as the Internet of Things (IoT) is an opportunity for breakthroughs, the foundry semiconductor industry has guided a new path.
In this study, we focused on applying three analysis models - Michael Porter's five forces analysis and SWOT analysis. In addition, we combined interviews of case company and study the semiconductor foundry companies how to consider the sales strategy in order to react the different kind of competitors. It will be important to set up the value proposition and enhance the competitiveness with advance wafer foundry process as well as service strength, when you face larger rivals in the market. This study is expected as a reference to provide the enterprise in formulating competitive strategy and how to increase market share as well as profitability targets.
Keywords：semiconductor、wafer foundry、the five forces model、SWOT、
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