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If you had $1B and decided to invest it in a product, would that product be something you would only use to half of its potential? Of course not. You would be wasting half a billion dollars. But that’s exactly what’s happening with semiconductors in the automobile industry.
Semiconductors help power nearly all electronic devices across every vertical, from high-tech to medical. The industry is evolving so rapidly that the cost of these chips has decreased by ten million times in the last 50 years. Almost every electronic device uses a chip, creating such a high demand that it’s generated its own unique line of work.
The electronic components of a motor vehicle, for example, now represent 30% of its total cost, and is expected to represent 50% by 2050. Unfortunately, companies that aren’t directly connected to this industry struggle to understand how to get the most effective use out of their chips.
However, there is a solution: customization.
Effectively strategizing for semiconductors
Anyone can source the supplies to make a car. From wheels to sound systems, enthusiasts are constantly customizing their vehicles. As an avid car lover myself, I once switched out the engine in my car for a higher-performing one. However, the new engine I chose was originally designed for a vehicle that is two and a half times lighter than mine, leading to a noticeable difference in how my car handles. I swapped out the engine in my vehicle for a higher-performing one, and this engine was designed for a car that’s about two and a half times lighter than mine, leading to a noticeable difference in how my car handles. Semiconductor industries have the same issues.
Many companies that incorporate electronics into their products purchase chips made for other uses. However, chips are not one-size-fits-all. Products perform better when they use semiconductors specifically developed for their technical specifications. To put it plainly: cutting-edge companies use custom chips.
When a product is created with generic parts, eventually, those parts will fail to keep up with the rest of the device. When a chip is outfitted specifically for a car, phone, refrigerator, laptop, etc., not only will everything run better from the beginning, but there will be less breakdown along the way. When this problem is combined with the fact that many companies cobble different parts from a variety of manufacturers in order to make a single product, it’s impossible to track where a problem is coming from. The last five years have also shown us that more reliance on the supply chain is more risky. An end-to-end developer does not have this problem.
Quest Global partners with you from the beginning of the product lifecycle to every iteration afterward. This involvement provides an easy and clear timeline that allows us to see where, when, why, and how something went wrong. A product should be crafted by two partners with unique customizations.There is no need for patchwork solutions.
Truly global solutions, ahead of the times
In addition to partnering with you to create specialized, cutting-edge semiconductors for your products, we can also connect you with our international hubs. Due to our global presence, we provide one-stop solutions and front-end support at any customer location across the world.
Our international presence empowers us with a diverse range of inventive minds. This has put us ahead of many other semiconductor manufacturers. Most companies will be in 5nm technology in the next three years. Quest Global is there now and already working on 3nm nodes. We have done 240 tape-outs in the last five years, well above the dozen that many large companies do per year. From automotive to cloud computing, our diverse customer footprint empowers us to learn the necessary skill sets to specialize in all verticals. If a legacy industrialist wants to transition their product line to incorporate semiconductors, we partner to phase them through their strategies by offering solutions with strategic oversight that will carry them through years of planning.
In the automotive industry, many traditional big-name companies have segued semiconductors into their products to stay competitive against leading drivers like Tesla. We work with traditional companies seeking to expand as well as new-age companies and lead competitors. At every stage, we’re the technology leaders that can take our partners directly into the semiconductor vertical.
Finding your footing in semiconductor
The economy is struggling and companies have to reevaluate their engineering strategies. Maintaining the same internal headcount is no longer efficient, and an increase in financial pressure from investors is pushing companies to cut back. Most of our customers focus on building a product, not semiconductors. With a reduced headcount, they cannot expand to develop and incorporate custom chips internally. We help these clients build custom semiconductors for their products at lower costs, meeting their needs by combining the expertise of our talent.
Where our customer’s priority is introducing products at a fast pace, our priority is helping them maximize their product’s capabilities with semiconductors. We go further to offer global solutions for companies looking to gain international reach, facilitating product support in any location to navigate multinational workforce constraints.
Engineering may not be experiencing a full-on crisis yet, but we must change our approach to the field. The key technological advancements of the past few years and ongoing workforce struggles have shaken the economy. Businesses everywhere are being forced to adapt. Quest Global is the partner to identify scalable pathways in product development and build toward solutions that not only keep our customers afloat but bring their businesses comfortably into the future.
