Thursday, May 12, 2005
An annual survey of IC design houses in Taiwan, mainland China and South Korea, conducted by EE Times-Asia shows that the average IC design company annual revenue is expected to reach $9.8 million in 2005, up 22 percent from 2004, according to Global Sources Ltd. (Hong Kong).
These design companies each employ, on average, 205 people, of which 63 are IC design engineers, the survey found.
EE Times-Asia is published by eMedia Asia Ltd., a joint venture between Global Sources and CMP Media LLC (Manhasset, N.Y.), the publisher of this website. The survey is based on responses from 174 IC design houses.
The average IC design house 2005 revenue in Taiwan is expected to be $12.1 million. For Korea the same figure is expected to be $8.3 million. In mainland China the average design house revenue is expected to be $8.0 million.
The survey shows that Taiwan IC design houses lead in design capacity while Korean IC design houses lead in design complexity, Global Sources said. It also shows that China is not far behind either of those regions in design activities.
Taiwan design companies undertook an average of 11 design projects each in 2004, the report showed. At the same time mainland China and Korean firms averaged 10 and six design projects, respectively. In 2003, Taiwan firms undertook an average of nine design projects while mainland China firms averaged eight, and Korea firms, six.
In Korea 87 percent of the surveyed IC design companies are using manufacturing processes at 0.25 micron or finer geometry for digital IC design, compared to 64 percent of mainland China design firms and 63 percent of Taiwan companies. In analog design, 73 percent of Korea companies are using 0.25 micron or smaller process technologies, compared to 47 percent of Taiwan firms, and 42 percent of mainland China companies.
The survey respondents said that their main challenge is reducing the amount of time it takes to produce a design (53 percent of all respondents). The second most important challenge is reducing design cost (50 percent).
"Semiconductor Industry Association statistics show that in 2004, semiconductor sales in Asia-Pacific reached $88.7 billion. Most of these, however, were imports — in the case of China, up to 90 percent. While high-end ICs will continue to be imported in the foreseeable future, demand for low-priced ICs is creating opportunities for local design houses," said Mark Saunderson, publisher of EE Times-Asia, in a statement.
By: DocMemory
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