Managing R&D in the semiconductor industry: coupling technological vectors and market needs

Managing R&D in the semiconductor industry has long been a purely technological matter, with major improvements driven by the development of new solutions for computing systems. The advent of digital convergence actually opened up new opportunities for semiconductor companies to address an increasing number of final products, belonging to different markets and industries. Gathering these opportunities, however, requires a new approach in the management of R&D, ldquocouplingrdquo different technological vectors with different market needs. The paper proposes a framework of analysis and discusses major trade-offs to be faced by semiconductor companies to succeed in this task.