THREE-DIMENSIONAL

INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
(3D IC)

CONSULTANTS
Applying Intelligence to IP - Globally
Taxonomy

The taxonomy chart given below has been designed to clearly provide an eagle eye
view of the IP trends in target technology.

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Top Prolific Applicants Filing trend (Since 2005)

90

80

70

60
Number of Patents

TOSHIBA
50
MACRONIX
IBM
40
SAMSUNG
TSMC
30

20

10

0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Note:-Some assignee names have been standardized for graphical analysis.

Observation:

This chart indicates that the Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company has been very
aggressive recently in filing patent applications in this technology domain. Moreover, it can
also be observed that the top applicants in this technology domain got active in this
technology domain after the year 2010. Therefore, it is easy to expect that the patent
applications from these top applicants will only be going to rise in the upcoming years.

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Top Assignees v/s Geographies Analysis

400
TSMC
350 IBM

300 Samsung

Toshiba
250
MACRONIX
200

150

100
MACRONIX
50
Toshiba

0 Samsung

US IBM
WO
TW TSMC
KR
JP
EP
CN

Observation:

This chart indicates that after United States, Taiwan, China, and Korea received the most
patent filings from the top assignees in this technology area. Further, it is interesting to
observe that even the top assignees of this technology domain refrained themselves from
the PCT filing option. Moreover, Europe is observed to be the least preferred country for the
top assignees, as illustrated in this chart.

Dominance of Applicants Shown

Over the world Map

5
Year-Wise Analysis of Sub-Technological Areas

Observation:

The graph depicts the distribution of the patent filings in the different sub-technological
areas. Its evident from this chart that almost all the sub-technological areas have received
a lot of patent filings in last 5 years.

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 Market Analysis

The following section adheres to the recent news concerning mergers and acquisitions in the
domain of trenchless pipe repairing which provides an upstream view of whats happening in
the field.

GRAPHICAL ANALYSIS

In Graphical Analysis, the market information is analyzed using statistical analysis or

published sources to extract intelligence.

Top 15 capital expenditure spenders 2014 and 2015

16
14
2014 2015
12
10
Billion $

8
6
4
2
0

Source: http://analog-eetimes.com/en/tsmc-overtakes-intel-in-chip-capex-
ranking.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=222907427&vID=44&page=1

Total Semiconductor Capital 80

Expenditures, 2009-2015 70
60
$ in Billions

This graph depicts year-wise expenditures in the 50

semiconductor technology. 40
30
Source: http://analog-eetimes.com/en/tsmc- 20
overtakes-intel-in-chip-capex- 10
ranking.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=222907427&vID 0
=44 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

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Equipment Vs Materials Markets: 2.5X Growth in Next Five Years for 3D-IC and
WLP

3000
Sales Forecast in Million $

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Equipment Market Material Market

Source: http://www.semi.org/eu/node/8966

IC Market-share by Market-type from 1998 to 2017

120.00%

100.00%
8.20% 7.50% 7.00% 6.50% 6.80%
4.70% 6.30% 6.70% 7.10% 8.70%

80.00% 13.00% 12.90% 12.20% 12.50% 10.80%

Industrial/Other
Percentage

18.50%
22.00% Auto
60.00% 29.30%
37.20% 40.00%
Consumer

40.00% Communication

Computer
55.60%
51.30%
45.00%
20.00%
36.70% 33.70%

0.00%
1998 2003 2008 2013 2017F

Source: http://www.3dincites.com/2014/09/major-trends-shaping-future-ic-industry/

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General Observations

Most companies/organizations active in the target technology are based in XX, YY and ZZ.
More than n% of patent applications in the technology domain are enforceable.
Company X is the major player in this technology domain
This technology area gained attraction in terms of patent filings after the year 2XXX.
Less than X% of patent applications filed in this domain was filed via PCT route.
Most of the patent applications filed in this technology domain were published after year 2XXX
Top assignees in this technology domain got aggressive in terms of patent filings in last X years

Conclusion

Based on the analysis, it is clear that the technology domain 3D Printing is being fully leveraged
nowadays by the top assignees in the domain. Further, it is imminent that the patent filings in this
technology domain are only going to increase in the near future. Further, Country Y is the major
jurisdiction that is attracting patent applications in this technology domain followed by Country XX, YY and
ZZ. NN Jurisdiction has negligible patent strength in this technology domain.

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