Mechanisms of business domain expansion of semiconductor trading companies

Abstract

Semiconductor trading companies are intermediate distributors between suppliers (manufacturers of semiconductors) and users (manufacturers of electronic devices). They include companies that have expanded their business domains both upstream and downstream according to changes in the structure of the semiconductor and electronics industries. Targeting small- and medium-sized users that lack management resources, they expand downstream by taking on the design and production of finished products and expand upstream to support detailed designs of semiconductor devices. These are strategies that increase their competitive advantage as intermediate distributors.