The mainstream chip design technology officially entered the 28nm in 2012

According to DIGITMES, with the construction costs of new semiconductor plants rising from about US$2.0 billion to US$3 billion in 2005 to US$3 billion to US$4 billion in 2010, it is predicted that by 2015, the cost will exceed the US$5 billion mark. The cost of new plants based on continuous growth has already exceeded the scope of normal capital expenditures of Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDMs). Therefore, some IDMs have chosen to outsource the wafer manufacturing orders to foundry players. At the same time, it will retain existing production lines to focus on core product line production and form a Fab-Lite business model.

Observe the global IDM Asset-Lite strategic timeline planning. The U.S.-based and European-based IDMs start with the early-to-mid-2000 announcements. However, U.S. and European companies are mostly professional chip makers, and the ordering strategy for outsourcing is usually limited to manufacturing. Although Japanese IDM announced its asset reduction strategy as late as the end of 2000, Japanese companies have extended their operations to end products. Antennas have become the source of business opportunities for IC Design Service providers' chip design solutions.

Looking at the Total Available Market (TAM) scale of IC design service industry including Application-Specific Standard Product (ASSP) and Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) during 2007-2011 It is expected that the annual compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the ASSP and ASIC markets will exceed 5% and 8%, respectively, and the ASSP will still account for the growth rate of US$90 billion to US$100 billion. IC design service TAM exceeds 75%, but ASIC growth momentum is better than ASSP.

The 28-nanometer process technology of the foundry industry officially entered the trial production stage in 2010. It is expected that the mainstream technology of the IC design service process will officially enter into the 28-nanometer generation in 2012, and the number of outsourcing schedules based on IDM orders is expected to be 32- The 45-nanometer process starts with some subcommittees, and the 28-nanometer and below process adopts all outsourcing strategies. It is expected that the IDM advanced process wafer manufacturing outsourcing orders will be expected to be released in large quantities. Japanese IDMs with complete downstream layout are expected to continue Released chip design outsourcing orders.

The A4 and A5 chips that Apple has developed on its own initiative are driving ASSPs to begin ASICization. It is expected that more and more chips will adopt the optimized design mode for individual system operators, not only achieving the end product's thinness and shortness. Requirements, but also can effectively reduce the overall cost of materials.

However, for IC design companies lacking system-on-chip (SoC) design experience, it is a severe challenge. It is expected that the IC design industry, led by the mainland, will continue to expand the pace of chip design orders. Deepen the degree of reliance on the IC design service industry.