The worldwide semiconductor industry is undergoing several kinds of structural change concurrently. The structure of market demand is shifting from one controlled by personal computers to a diverse array of heterogeneous markets, mostly resulting from international diffusion of the Internet and wireless communications programs. The construction of production tasks is shifting from one dominated by "integrated device manufacturers" (IDMs), which both design and production semiconductor components, to one defined by vertical specialty, where many companies specialize in either design and marketing ("fabless" businesses) or manufacturing ("foundries").
Finally, market demand and technical expertise are growing in geographic regions (e.g., Malaysia, Singapore, and the People's Republic of China) that formerly were much less visible performers in the global business. In the face of such far accomplishment structural change in the industry, it's astonishing that most indicators of the "globalization" of innovation-related activities in the U.S. semiconductor industry--ranging from publicly accessible data on the share of industry-financed R&D that is performed offshore to the location of creative activity connected with patenting by U.S. businesses--signify just modest offshore movement in crucial innovation-related actions. To a surprising extent, this evidence implies that much of the innovation process in this global industry remains "non-globalized."
PUBLICATION DATE: November 01, 2007 PRODUCT #: CMR387-HCB-ENG
This is just an excerpt. This case is about GLOBAL BUSINESS
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