It's predicted that electronics will soon be one of the largest industries in the world. Electronics companies are racing to introduce new products and foundry capacity is doubling every two years to keep pace with the demand. Outsourcing and specialization throughout the integrate circuit (IC) "design chain" have become trends that measure our ability to keep up with demand. Additionally, these trends have caused the growth of large and small services suppliers that offer everything from intellectual property (IP), to design, packaging, and test services, to the rising use of "pure play" foundries. These trends, while welcome and practical, have led to industry fragmentation and a disintegrated design chain.

These inefficiencies create problems that extend design and manufacturing cycles, which in turn lead to longer time-to-market cycles for equipment manufacturers, and higher design/development cost and risk. Managing the process has gotten far more complicated, putting undo stress on the IC designer. Semiconductor vendors and system companies now face the challenges of managing their own IC design chain; locate and select resources, products, tools and services for an IC project; handle secured data exchange between designers and suppliers in a timely and accurate fashion; setup a design environment that supports virtual design teams.

Companies outsource key elements of their IC design process. Project leaders need to locate, qualify, and engage with design services firms, individual consultants, wafer foundries, packaging, and test vendors. The design of a complex IC involves access to, and management of, complex data. Design teams must access the latest process information, libraries, IP design files, and packaging specifications. Any mismatches between the various data files can cause design errors that result in escalating costs and schedule delays. The setup of a design environment for complex ICs is a daunting task and may take up to six months. Additionally, the required investments in design tools, computing platform, and the IT/CAD team to set-up the environment can easily top $5 million.

Curiously, the industry that gave us high-speed Internet access and 24X7 availability has neglected its own needs, making the barrier to entry for new semiconductor suppliers-where much of the innovation and creativity is done today-prohibitive. As a result, the semiconductor industry is facing numerous and intensifying business challenges along with the potential dearth of creativity.

Many of these challenges can be readily addressed by leveraging the Internet for IC design and manufacturing. With silicon services and outsourcing proliferating on a seemingly daily basis, an online product and services locator is critical. How else do companies learn about resources? Networking or word of mouth? The Yellow Pages? Neither is practical in today's business climate.

The Internet is the answer for streamlining and managing the IC design chain and re-integrating various factions of the semiconductor industry. It can be a viable solution to meet the industry's restrictive business challenges. Web-based solutions can offer a variety of services, from online resource locator to design collaboration and data management services-improving communications and collaboration between designers and suppliers.

Several steps are necessary to properly utilize the Internet. The first is to establish an online community by virtue of a business-to-business (B2B) portal. Bringing the community together will affect the efficiency of semiconductor players at every level and every market segment. The next step involves building infrastructure for web-based design and collaboration. For example, offering secured and timely access to critical data, or utilizing application-hosting infrastructure to offer online access to design tools.

Our industry is made up of some of the best minds around today. We've solved other industries' productivity problems and inefficiencies in recent years, while we've neglected our own. Let's change that through the use of the Internet and an IC design chain solution that brings together disparate pieces of the industry.

Judy Owen is the founder, president and CEO of SiliconX Inc. of San Jose, CA. Previously, Owen founded Wireless Access, Inc. in 1991, serving as its president and CEO.