EE Solutions : Based on China, Looking at the World

—Interview with Jim Su, CEO of EE Solutions —

IC design foundry is a new link in the IC industry chain and conforms to the trend of the partitioning of different expertise in the IC industry. In the 1970s and 1980s, the mainstream of the IC industry was companies such as Intel and Samsung, which were IDM models that integrated circuits design and production is combined in one company. At this stage, the pros and cons of wafers are mainly reflected in the manufacturing process. The United States in the 1970s and Japan in the 1980s were the leaders. In the 1990s, professional partitioning of different expertise began to appear in the IC industry, and chip foundries and IC design companies were first separated. At this stage, the IC industry shifted from an early manufacturing drive to a design drive, and a group of excellent IC design companies such as VIA and MediaTek were created in Taiwan. Since 2000, the emergence of system-on-a-chip (SoC) has made the entire process of chip design to samples becomes more and more complicated. At this time, the original IC design link in the industry chain was split again into IC design companies and design service companies. In this industry chain, IC design companies and system manufacturers need to extend downwards linking , and chip foundries want to extend upwards linking, all need outsourcing services provided by design service companies。

 Jim Su, General Manager of EE Solutions

Reporter: How do you view the field of design services?

Jim Su: System manufacturers focus on product design. At the same time, in order to save money and improve their product quality, it is impossible to have too much capital and personnel for chip design. System manufacturers are still lacking in integrated circuit design. Under this condition, the outsourcing  IC (Chip) design service has its value and necessity. The chip design service has its advantages in terms of professionalism, research and development capabilities, and IP libraries, which system manufacturers do not have. With the changes in the semiconductor industry and the development of Moore's Law, chip outsourcing design services will inevitably have room for development.。

Reporter: Facing this special domestic market, what kind of business model does your company currently use to operate? What results will it bring?

Jim Su: In 2005, China's integrated circuit market demand was 77 billion. In 2005, domestic sales reached more than 54 billion. China has surpassed the United States as the largest consumer market for chips. At present, the domestic design foundry industry  (IC Design service) still has a lot of room for growth, but the competition has been very fierce. In addition to being busy reflecting their own technological advantages, the design service companies are also very important to strategic alliances with downstream Fab foundries. After all, they will finally produce products in mass production. It is the needs of customers. We continue to learn and grow from the past experience, so far we have helped many system manufacturers to complete ASICs development. I believe that in this era, our persistence is also the general trend. In addition to continuously strengthening our core capabilities, we also use existing Sales and Marketing Channels to cooperate with system companies to develop ASICs to expand our market:

1. Combine the special IP with some partners to cooperate with company's design service as the basis for providing customer service.

2. Adjust the existing channel of cooperative system vendors, and promote our Value-added ASICs according to their respective application products

3. Integrate all of our partners' specialized application ICs into a chip of SoC, such as VoIP: DSP, ADC/DAC, AFE, Voice CODEC.

4. Actively promote our complete FPGA to ASIC process to all system customers.

Over the years, our efforts have strengthened our cooperative relationship with domestic system companies and gained a lot of valuable experience. We are convinced that this is a successful operation model, and will work hard to apply this model to other regions (such as Taiwan, South Korea and the United States).

Reporter: What are the most important factors to become an excellent design service company?

Jim Su: The most important factors to become an excellent design service company:

1. Have a good business philosophy: in this regard, it is mainly reflected in the company's management, and a good leader can point out a good direction. In this regard, EE Solutions is taking a high-end and professional route. EE Solutions will position the future development trend mainly in the fields of communication systems and digital entertainment.

2. Talent training: Since its establishment 7 years ago, EE Solutions has invested a lot of capital in talent training and has established a good relationship with universities.

3. Technology research and development: EE Solutions has accumulated a large amount of IP and improved its own technology through alliances and cooperation with system vendors.

4. Share with customers

Reporter: Can you sum up your company's advantages in the design service industry? What measures will be taken when serving domestic system manufacturers in the future?

Jim Su: Compared with other IC design service providers, EE Solutions’s biggest competitiveness is simultaneously mastering the different advantages of the United States, Taiwan, and China. At present, North America still maintains the lead in advanced technology (Technology), while Taiwan has manufacturing technology (Manufacturing) and cost advantages, and there is a vast domestic market demand (Market). In China, EE Solutions has also opened up bases in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Dalian and other places, which can better explain the rapid design of chips by mainland customers, reduce production costs and risks, ensure product quality and delivery time, and greatly enhance market competitiveness. Increase market share.

When EE Solutions serves domestic system manufacturers in the future, it will focus its customers on system manufacturers and provide them with ASIC design services. EE Solutions can provide these system manufacturers with more alternatives (compared to products provided by IDM). Grow together with domestic system manufacturers.

Today, EE Solutions has good technologies and solutions in power, noise, DFM, and ESD, and uses advanced hierarchical design flows to complete complex designs such as graphic design. This is obvious to all.

Introduction of EE Solutions

EE Solutions is a well-known leader in ASIC and SoC design services. With the most advanced integrated circuit technology (including 0.13um, 0.18um, 0.25um, 0.35um, etc.), it provides multiple IP modules, IC design services, and turnkey solution(RTL/Netlist/GDS to GDS/Wafer/Packaged IC with testing), 9 service locations including China, Taiwan, the United States, Canada, Singapore, and India have been deployed globally.

EE Solutions has advanced design and research capabilities, professional production management background, stable packaging/testing technical strength, and timely global shipping experience. It is the best IC design partner, indicating that customers can quickly design chips and reduce production costs and risks. Ensure product quality and delivery time, significantly strengthen market competitiveness and increase market share.

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