Knowledge Spillover among Semiconductor Foundries

Constant innovation has become an important survival rule for companies in the knowledge economy. How to capture the external knowledge (the knowledge spillover), and how to internalize external knowledge from the knowledge flow (the technology convergence) have become important issues. A case analysis of knowledge spillover and technology convergence was conducted, and focuses on the top IC foundries including AMD, Chartered Semiconductor, Samsung Electronics, TSMC, and UMC. In this study, the analysis is distinguished by wafer size into three periods: the six-inch (1976-1991), eight-inch (1989-1999), and twelve-inch wafer (1997-2011). Patentometrics and social network analysis (SNA) methods are adopted, and the R&D cooperation and patent citations among foundries are used to represent the strong ties and weak ties of knowledge spillover. The strength and range of technology convergence can be measured based on the co-occurrence of patent classes between foundries. The results of this study revealed that there are similar knowledge spillover patterns among the major IC foundries, however, there were considerable differences in terms of technology convergence. The comparison between the knowledge spillover and technology convergence of these foundries can help technology managers predict the emergence of new technology and assist in the planning of R&D strategies.