A flexible way of modeling the long-term cost competitiveness of a semiconductor product

Cost competitiveness has received ever-growing attention in the era of globalization. However, the definition and measurement of cost competitiveness has not been sufficiently explored. For these reasons, a flexible approach is proposed in this study to assess the long-term cost competitiveness of a product. First, a fuzzy collaborative intelligence approach is applied to estimate the unit cost. The mid-term cost competitiveness of the product is then assessed by comparing the estimated unit cost with the competitive region. The assessment result is expressed with a less restrictive shape and is therefore more flexible than assessments from the traditional methods. Subsequently, the long-term cost competitiveness is derived by observing the trend in the medium term. After the proposed methodology had been applied to a practical example, several valuable results were obtained; these successes indicate this method to be a viable strategy in planning related activities.

► We investigate the assessment of the long-term cost competitiveness.
► The cost of a product is predicted using a fuzzy collaborative intelligence approach.
► The trend in the mid-term cost competitiveness is measured.
► Expressing the assessment result with a less restrictive shape is more flexible.