Applying Hybrid-Quantity Analysis in the Asia Semiconductor Industry

The semiconductor market has gradually transitioned from advanced countries to the Asian-Pacific region. Since the 1980s, Taiwan has been developing its own semiconductor industry, and after 20 years of effort, has become one of the world's major exporters of semiconductor products. Therefore, to position Taiwan in relation to other countries for competitive advantage, as defined by technology and industrial development, requires a better understanding of the developmental trends of the semiconductor technology of major competing countries in the Asian-Pacific region. This can further provide the Taiwanese government with additional strategic development proposals. We used a combination of patents, data-mining methods [multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis, and K-means clustering] to explore competing technological and strategic-group relationships within the semiconductor industry in the Asian-Pacific region. We assessed the relative technological advantages of various organizations and proposed additional technology development strategy recommendations to the Taiwanese semiconductor industry.