Strategic evaluation of emerging technologies in the semiconductor foundry industry (Special case: Semiconductor foundry industry in Taiwan) (China)

Emerging technologies in the semiconductor foundry industry rapidly shape the landscape of competition. In order to gain competitiveness, the emerging technologies must be properly aligned with business strategies and competitive goals, but the costly investment and high uncertainty associated with emerging technologies complicate the assessment of their impact on competitiveness.; This research developed an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model to strategically evaluate emerging technologies in the semiconductor foundry industry. The model integrated emerging technologies, technology strategies, and competitive goals, and quantified their impacts on overall competitive success in the semiconductor foundry industry. The Taiwan semiconductor foundry industry was used as a case since it holds the leading position in global competition. An expert panel was formed to provide expert opinions and judgment quantifications for the model. The panel represented a balanced diversity of Taiwan's semiconductor foundry industry from various perspectives including government agencies, an industry research institute, foundries and their suppliers and a customer. A systematic sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the effect of variations among expert judgments on the final rankings of the impacts of emerging technologies.; Using Taiwan's semiconductor foundry industry as a special case, the model developed in this research is capable of (1) determining the relative importance of competitive goals in the industry and (2) aligning the emerging technologies with goals and strategies to achieve competitiveness. The model is capable of evaluating emerging technologies within different time frames, thus enabling an organization to apply it repeatedly as a technology planning tool. The model can also be generalized to other geographic and industrial applications in the future.