Supply Chain Processes as Key Drivers for Upgrading in the Semiconductor Global Supply Chain

Brazilian government has developed public policies during the last years in order to promote a national semiconductor industry. Under this program, 22 new Design Houses have started their operations. Considering this context, this study aims to understand how Brazilian Design Houses are upgrading to operate as players in the semiconductor global chain. To really move up in the semiconductor global chain, DHs need to improve key supply chain processes, such as marketing and sales, outsourcing and relationship management. This new scenario will characterize the achievement of functional upgrading, in which the companies will develop capabilities to move to higher value added activities in the global chain.

DESIGN AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SPIN COATER TO SUPPORT NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY

<p>Recently, semiconductor industry grows rapidly due to high demand of modern electronic system. In addition, the value of investments in Indonesia electronic industries also more than doubled during 2015-2017. This increase in investment will certainly have an impact on the increasing the needs for electronic / semiconductor component processing machines. To support it, well performed spin coater then were designed. The characterization of spin coating process was done at BSN (formerly was known as Research Center for Metrology LIPI) using roughness measuring instrument/ profilometer that traceable to PTB (Germany) to guarantee the validity of the measurement results. Characterization experiment used positive photoresist SPR3018 to see the performance of system designed. Three different experiments were performed to determine the impact of spin speed and spin time to photoresist thickness and uniformity. The characterization shown that on spin speed increased, the photoresist was deployed thinner. The thickness of the photoresist is inversely proportional to the square root of spin speed. Furthermore, the longer spin coating time, it increases the tendency of concave surface. This work is expected to benefit the practitioners of electronic systems, semiconductor industries, and even SNI conceptors.</p>

Business Modeling and Public Policy in High-Tech Industries: Exploratory Evidences from Two Brazilian Semiconductor Support Programs

This paper adopts an exploratory analysis based on a multiple case study to investigate the interplay of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) business modeling strategies and Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policies in a mid-income country efforts to develop a national semiconductor industry. Specifically, we analyze how 22 Brazilian SMEs supported by two comprehensive federal programs designed and implemented business models and strategies in an attempt to, on the one hand, meet the scope and timing of public funding resources and, on the other hand, develop capabilities to enter the industry’s global value chain. Drawing on a wide body of literature and on the evidence collected, we identified and categorized the firms’ business models into five groups: Pure Play IP, Pure Play Design, Fabless, Fabless Plus and Captive. We then analysed the firms’ within the specificities of each group. The paper shows that, in addition to business models and strategies oriented to meet short-term survival needs, the financial benefits for firms were low and unstable, with recurrent and unresolved frictions between policy-makers, planners and firms.

Supply Chain Processes as Key Drivers for Upgrading in the Semiconductor Global Supply Chain

Brazilian government has developed public policies during the last years in order to promote a national semiconductor industry. Under this program, 22 new Design Houses have started their operations. Considering this context, this study aims to understand how Brazilian Design Houses are upgrading to operate as players in the semiconductor global chain. To really move up in the semiconductor global chain, DHs need to improve key supply chain processes, such as marketing and sales, outsourcing and relationship management. This new scenario will characterize the achievement of functional upgrading, in which the companies will develop capabilities to move to higher value added activities in the global chain.

Construction goes green: An interview with Kevin Surace of Serious Materials

Buildings are stealthy contributors to global climate change. The energy needed to heat, cool, and light buildings, as well as manufacture construction materials, contributes more than half of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. But Kevin Surace, chair and CEO of Serious Materials, has made it his mission to tackle the built environment head-on. An electrical engineer by training, he has worked at IBM, Seiko-Epson, National Semiconductor, and General Magic. He later started the companies Air Communications and Perfect Commerce. In 2002, he began to develop sound-muffling polymers as a sideline, shifting his focus to materials chemistry. Sound-dampening materials now account for much of Serious Materials' business, but the company has received most of its accolades for its energy-efficient products. We caught up with Surace at Serious Materials' headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., to talk about how materials science can help make green buildings good business.

HISTORICAL, ENTREPRENEURIAL AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVES ON THE SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY

This paper studies the semiconductor industry from three perspectives: historical, entrepreneurial and supply chain management. After a brief introduction, the paper begins by tracing the history and evolution of the semiconductor industry including the two seminal enterprises: Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory and Fairchild Semiconductor. Starting from the invention of the transfer resistor (transistor) by three Nobel laureates (John Bardeen, Walter Houser Brattain and William Shockley) and the founding of the "most successful failure" in Silicon Valley, Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory and the Fairchild Eight, the paper discusses some earliest entrepreneurial attempts in the industry and how these attempts influenced over seventy semiconductor companies in Silicon Valley, including Intel Corporation, National Semiconductor and Advanced Micro Devices. The paper then examines the industry's developing business models, from the vertically integrated model to the integrated device manufacturing model to the development of the foundry model. Finally, the paper looks at the industry's growing trend of globalization together with its outsourcing/off-shoring and supply chain management developments. The authors believe that such a multi-disciplinary approach to study an industry provides valuable insights into the evolution and development of an entire industry and the approach can be generalized to study other industries to enhance understanding at the industry level.