Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd has unveiled a new and perhaps controversial strategy that involves greater collaboration early in the integrated circuit design process. TSMC's program aims to reduce development cycles and production costs, according to analysts. But it could also cause quite a stir in the industry, as the silicon foundry giant wants a bigger share of the integrated circuit pie and appears to be encroaching on the territory of the third-party EDA, IP, packaging and test communities. Open Innovation As part of its strategy, TSMC is quietly pushing a concept called Open Innovation Platform (OIP), according to Gartner Inc. During last week's technology conference, TSMC also revealed details about its roadmap on the chip front- packaging, including its internal efforts in the 3D arena.OIP is a program that involves greater "collaboration between the foundry and its customers early in the design phase," said Jim Walker, an analyst at Gartner, in a newsletter via email. TSMC's OIP consists of a platform of design tools and intellectual property to help customers in their design-to-manufacturing efforts, Walker said. “OIP integrates TSMC manufacturing technologies, IP-on-silicon, a massive manufacturing database, and compatible third-party IP-on-silicon and design tools,” he said. “Through OIP, TSMC can offer vertically integrated services from design and manufacturing to testing and packaging, thereby shortening customers' IC development processes and reducing manufacturing costs,” he said. Competitor Concerns Many of these efforts could be considered competitive with TSMC's current partnerships in the EDA, IP and IC packaging communities. For example, "this announcement should be of concern to companies in the SATS industry (i.e., contract assembly and testing companies), such as Amkor Technology, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Siliconware Precision Industries Ltd, STATS ChipPAC, UTAC, and others," Walker wrote. “This expansion of services could mean a potential loss of business for these SATS companies from TSMC's new domestic packaging operations.” On the surface, the strategy makes sense, other analysts said. As design and manufacturing costs continue to rise at each node, TSMC is providing more tools to help chip makers develop their products. In other words, TSMC and other foundries are providing more than a one-stop shop of services to help customers. In addition to its massive in-house front-end manufacturing capabilities, the foundry giant already offers a complete integrated circuit design pipeline, which includes a wide range of qualified third-party EDA tools and intellectual property (IP) blocks. TSMC also provides limited IC design services. And TSMC has been investing in the development of IC packaging and test technology for years.