Fabless (from the English fab [rication] and -less - “ factoryless ”), a non-production company - a model of organizing a business in the electronics industry, in which the manufacturing company specializes only in the development and sale of microelectronics , but not It has its own production facilities, that is, it uses the services of OEM enterprises for production. That is, in order to produce products designed in their own laboratories [1] , an unproductive company transfers technology and places an order for specialized production of other companies, which are often called silicon plants.
This way of the company’s activity is based on the principle of the division of labor , aimed at increasing efficiency in a competitive environment: by refusing to maintain its own production, the development company is able to more efficiently use its resources and focus only on research and design of the final product. In turn, the contract manufacturer is focused on effectively maintaining the competitiveness of plant facilities. This business model is the best suited for entering the market of new companies, allowing to minimize start-up investments.
Bernie Wanderschmidt (company Xilinx ) and Gordon Campbell (company Chips and Technologies ) [2] [3] are considered pioneers in this area.
Content
History
Until the 1980s, microelectronic companies owned their own factories and developed microchips that they themselves produced. They were engaged in assembly and testing.
By that time, with the support of private shareholders' capital, smaller companies began to form under the guidance of qualified engineers with entrepreneurial talent , who began to create their own innovative microcircuit designs. Like any high-tech industry, semiconductor manufacturing is very expensive, especially for those who are just starting to grow. The way out for them was placing orders at the excess capacity of existing factories.
At the same time, the industry of independent factories appeared - the first was Morris Chang, who founded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC).
In 1994, a group of directors of microelectronic companies, led by Jody Shelton, decided to create the Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA) to promote the global development of this business model. At that time, it was considered a temporary measure in order to occupy idle production facilities, while companies were building their own plants. Now the association has more than 500 members.
Non-productive companies experienced a stage of skepticism about themselves and in the 1990s, the example of companies such as Nvidia , Broadcom and Xilinx proved the viability of the idea. In 1994, there were only three — Cirrus Logic , Adaptec, and Xilinx , with revenues of just over $ 250 million — in 2007, the number of unproductive companies with revenues of over $ 1 billion exceeded ten.
Unexpectedly, even some silicon-proprietorship companies began to use the services of this business, for example Conexant Systems , Semtech and LSI Logic . Even large semiconductor market players such as Freescale , Infineon , Texas Instruments, and Cypress Semiconductor use external factories to produce part of their range.
Notes
- ↑ In contrast to the ODM model, in which companies place design orders in third-party laboratories for designing conceived products, the fabless company designs its products on its own.
- ↑ Paul McLellan, A Brief History of Semiconductors: the Foundry Transition , 2012-04-09
- ↑ Piero Scaruffi, A History of Silicon Valley Archived November 9, 2012 to Wayback Machine , chapter “21. The Startups: Fabless Manufacturing, Networking, Mobility, Nanotech (1987-90) ":" The model was pioneered by Chips and Technologies and Xilinx, and particularly by their executives Gordon Campbell and Bernard Vonderschmitt "
Literature
- Jeorge S. Hurtarte, Evert A. Wolsheimer, Lisa M. Tafoya. Understanding fabless IC technology . Newnes, 2007.273 pages, ISBN 978-0-7506-7944-2
Links
- IC Insights: profitability forecast of thirty leading fabless chip suppliers (inaccessible link) // iXBT
- Sysoev I. S. Russian microcircuits: Fabless model. Oriental Bazaar (Executive Edition)