The two most important departments in a chip company, in my opinion, are the marketing department and the R&D department. The marketing department is responsible for planning the product roadmap, while the R&D department is responsible for realizing these products. If the R&D capability is insufficient, it will cause the marketing department to re-plan the products; if the marketing department’s planning ability is insufficient, it will result in the R&D doing useless work. Therefore, the cooperation between the two is very important.
In a recent conversation with a leader of a chip company, he mentioned that their product planning is not done chip by chip, but by series. Each product series is planned in a streamlined manner, setting the type indicators for launching new products each year, which is a more professional planning method.
Since the marketing department plans by product series, chip projects have inheritability. At this time, the stability of the R&D team becomes very important. If the personnel are unstable, it will be difficult to complete the series of products at a low cost and on time. In continuous iterations, series products need to inherit the advantages of the previous ones and modify the shortcomings. In product planning from high-end to low-end, or from low-end to high-end, mutual reference and inheritance are key. Without this inheritance, products may be delayed, perform subpar, or even have functional defects.
As I stated in previous articles if a chip company boasts that its team is very young, then this company is pathetic; if a chip company has many veteran employees, then it is very likely a good company.
In the industry, a certain company suffered huge losses after the new CEO took office and made major personnel adjustments, leading to the departure of a large number of veteran employees. This shows that the damage caused by an unreliable company leader is immeasurable. Moreover, an unreliable leader often brings along a group of unreliable subordinates, further amplifying the loss.
It is understandable for a new leader to make some initial changes, but if they do not respect the norms of the industry and make major personnel adjustments, such a leader is incompetent and unsuitable for the chip industry.
In addition to ensuring the stability of the technical team, companies must also pay attention to market planning. Many chip companies, even those of a certain scale, have unprofessional marketing departments, and product planning is defined by feedback from sales or solely based on the CEO’s personal experience. These practices are very dangerous and unprofessional. Therefore, chip companies must have a professional marketing team.
Of course, you may think that other departments are also very important, such as the quality department, testing department, human resources department, etc. These departments are indeed important, but here we are talking about departments that directly face competition and represent the company’s competitiveness. Supporting departments only need to perform relatively well, while the departments that truly determine the company’s success and profitability are the competitive departments.
In addition, The editor believes that for a wafer fab, the most important department is the process integration department. Companies that do not value this department will ultimately fail.
So, which department do you think is the most important in a chip company?
Disclaimer: This article is created by the original author. The content of the article represents their personal opinions. Our reposting is for sharing and discussion purposes only and does not imply our endorsement or agreement. If you have any objections, please get in touch with us through the provided channels.
