Development of World IC Industry

The major IC enterprises facing to the market directly are fabless design enterprises (no production line), integrated device manufacturers (IDM), and intellectual property (IP) providers. EDA enterprises primarily provide design methodologies and tool suites but not for providing chip fabrication services, while wafer foundry (or Fab) can provide IC fabrication services. In the IC industry chain, IPs are commonly provided as process-proven and can be embedded in chips or known good dies (KGD); packaging and testing companies mainly provide services for Fabs, and IDM companies, materials companies, and special equipment companies mainly provide the required materials and equipment, respectively, for chip manufacturers. The industry is subject to the influences by several semiconductor organizations, such as World Semiconductor Council (WSC), Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), and Global Semiconductor Association (GSA). Additionally, there are also several IC market research and consulting companies, World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS), IC Insights, Gartner, Trend Force, and Yole, whose roles as if are IC liaisons in between IC designs and research, chip manufacturing, and product marketing.