The Semiconductor Manufacturing Industry
The specific industry that will be referred to will be the
semiconductor manufacturing industry. This industry emerged after
World War II, first in the Boston area and then moved westwards into
California during the 1950s. Reasons for locating in such areas
include flat land, temperature, stable economy, steady government
scene, accessible to markets, available raw materials and high skilled
labour. Because the industry is high tech it has meant that these
factors are decreasing in importance and factors such as the
environment, government assistance and cleanliness are changing the
pattern of semiconductor manufacturer locations.
The semiconductor industry first emerged in the U.S.A, it spread from
the east coast to the west coast within a decade. Manufacturers would
locate near universities because it proved highly skilled labour and
thus it lead to creation of Silicon Valley, in Santa Clara,
California. Nearby Stanford University was the basis for the creation
of the area and because the university was supported by government
funded electronics research.
During the 1960s and 1970s Japan and some European countries, such as
UK and Germany, began to develop semiconductor industries. The success
of the Japanese firms such as NEC was overwhelming and by the 1980s
Japan had overtaken the United States to become the worlds leading
semiconductor producer.
Semiconductor manufacturers located in these areas for many reasons,
one of them was because of technological factors. The industry was
separated in location by the stages of production, the low cost
assembly production was often cre...
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...antage of this and expand within these countries. Another area
where by governments helped the industry was by establishing high
technology industrial parks to attract semiconductor manufacturers.
These areas are well serviced with suitable infrastructure and are
often near research facilities provided by universities.
Apart from economical and political factors, social and cultural
factors also influence the location of semiconductor manufactures. A
major factor why the research and design centers have often grown in
specific areas are because the region tends to have a university. An
example of this would be Silicon Valley near Stanford University, this
is because the universities provide the area with centers of
electrical engineering research, and they help to stimulate
development of semiconductor manufacturing.
Summary of Clock Speed: Winning Industry Control in the Age of Temporary Advantage by Charles H. Fine
The interesting part of this industry is the fact that there is no company with a dominant market share. Even though some revenue numbers might be higher for some companies, each company has a specialty that it brings to the industry. One of the main costs is manufacturing their products. A major reason the companies are moving manufacturing plants to Asia and South America is to lower manufacturing costs.
M. Salib, L. Liao, R. Jones, M. Morse, A. Liu, D. Samara-Rubio, D. Alduino, and M. Paniccia, “Silicon Photonics,” Intel Technol. J., vol. 8, p. 143, 2004.
Dutch manufacturers too have a global outlook. They export goods worldwide, maintain subsidiaries in many countries and often join forces with foreign partners. The main manufacturing industries are chemicals, food processing, metalworking and the refining of gas and oil. The printing and electronic engineering industries are also world-class. Dutch
Silicon Valley, land of riches and of millionaires, archetype of the California Dream. This is the promise and the dream of technology. Mandel suggests that "Silicon Valley has joined the pantheon of mythic places-the first addition in more than fifty years" (285). A female engineer at Hewlett Packard states that "When [she] moved here, there were orchards all around, and now there are integrated-circuit manufacturing plants all around... that's been the thrill, because I've been a part of it, and it's the most exciting time in the history of the world, I think. And the center of it is here in Silicon Valley" (Stacey 292).
Intel Corporation is the world’s largest semiconductor chipmaker. Founded in 1968 by Gordon Moore, Robert Noyce, Arthur Rock, and Max Palevsky, the company makes integrated circuits, flash memory, embedded processors, motherboard chipsets, and other communications- and computing-related devices. Due to increased competition from Japanese semiconductor manufacturers in the early 80’s, Intel decided to focus on microprocessors.
Hence production units for example the exports that take place in Europe and its Ukraine therefore they have competitive advantage with value into the technology. It gone through the acquisition by natural resource seeking for example Tata Company has invested in coal mines in different country and ownership advantage the company that enables them to successfully acquire established goal companies (KUMAR, 2008).Location advantage of Tata motors has the nature of the product and the services which the company requires to invest In plant or an office (Neelankavil and Rai,2009).In addition the Tata Company has a manufacturing with joint venture and Thornburg automotive gives which them a location advantage again in the south East Asia region. Internationalization advantage of Tata motors will help them in having better control over the manufacturing units as licensing option which are issues related to transfer of technology or technology theft. The advantages of own production for Tata company which they have done is introducing a new car called Nano an ultra low cost car
be the increase in jobs. Creation of new jobs will take place in the manufacturing
In terms of the flow of goods in the region, each group company can directly order the material, produce the goods and sell them within the regional market. They build their own physical flow of goods, being relatively independent from the parent companys physical flow of goods. However, only one third of total revenue in the southeast Asia is produced in the region due to the limited production capacity of the group companies, the remaining two-thirds are still mainly supplied from the company's main production site in Germany.
...cing crystalline silicon and vertically integrate their manufacturing process, therefore further weakening the bargaining power of suppliers.
Most of the companies within the consumer technology industry rely on either manufacturing its own parts or buy different type of components from different distributors to build their product and sell it on the market. Although, one of the things that most computer manufacturers do not have is the ability to create one of the vital parts of a computer, the Central Processing Unit or also named known as a CPU. The only two suppliers that can provide the CPU required in every computer in the market are Intel and AMD in which Intel dominates around 65.3% of the market share followed by Qualcomm, Samsung, and then AMD with merely 6.4% of the market share. Although Qualcomm and Samsung are into the mobile device market, the domination that Intel has in the CPU market gives it a high bargaining power over other big tech companies.
Technology providers - These are the producers of the enabling technology and include firms in computer hardware and software, consumer electronics, and digital communications. Examples include: Apple, Creative Labs
Automobiles are very important in today's society. They are a means of transportation and also luxury. The automotive industry is a 904 billion dollar industry.(Franco) Automobiles are everywhere and have been on every continent, they assist us in traversing long distances of land; road or no road. The designs of automobiles vary from manufacturer to manufacturer as well as their country of origin, and what country the said automobile is being sold to. There are also many different styles of automobiles and different countries, or areas tend to have a favorite automobile. The biggest problem with the majority of today’s automobiles is that they burn fossil fuels and we will eventually use up all of our fossil fuels and will need to find something else to power our beloved automobiles. Automobiles are an important part in worldwide commerce.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd which trades as Foxconn Technology group or as the media calls it Foxconn has been in media limelight recently due to labor problems that have surfaced from the organization. Foxconn is a major equipment manufacturer supplier to electronics giants like Blackberry, Apple, Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation and the Nintendo Wii. The internet has several articles and controversies regarding the deplorable worker conditions and cases of suicides by the workers.
Samsung Electronics Company (SEC) began doing business in 1969 as a low-cost manufacturer of black and white televisions. In 1970, “Samsung acquired a semiconductor business” which would be a milestone that initiated the future for SEC. Entering the semiconductor industry would also be the beginning of the turnaround phase for SEC. In 1980, SEC showed the market its ability to mass produce. SEC became a major supplier of commodity products (televisions, microwave ovens and VCRs) in massive quantities to well known original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). For this reason, Samsung was able to easily transition into a major player in the electronic products and home appliances market (Quelch & Harrington, 2008).