Fabless-foundry partnerships: research on coordination issues

The fabless-foundry partnership business constitutes about 17% of total market in the semiconductor industry and is expected to reach $68 billion by the end of this century. The growth of this market is expected to be even more significant in sub-micron technologies. Given the rate of growth and the high technology profile of products, large investment of capital, time, and effort have to be dedicated for ensuring successful partnership outcomes. We outline the potential problems of coordination that may arise in such partnerships. We also propose an agenda for studying such coordination issues, with special emphasis on yield management.