Publications

January 2007
Case

AMD: A Customer-Centric Approach to Innovation

By: Elie Ofek and Lauren Barley

AMD's launch of the Opteron microprocessor in 2003 has allowed the company to make inroads into the lucrative server segment. A long-time follower to Intel, AMD management felt it was in a position to lead the microprocessor industry in new directions. However, in 2006... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Price; Leadership; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Product Development; Competitive Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Semiconductor Industry

June 2004 (Revised January 2005)
Case

Rambus Inc., 2004

By: David B. Yoffie and Deborah Freier

Examines the role of technology licensing in strategies for high-technology companies. In the 1990s, Rambus developed a revolutionary memory technology that would improve the ability of DRAMs to keep pace with ever-faster microprocessors. To commercialize the... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Lawsuits and Litigation; Strategic Planning; Relationships; Commercialization; Competition; Technology Adoption; Value; Semiconductor Industry

September 1986 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Solagen: Process Improvement in the Manufacture of Gelatin at Kodak

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Brian DeLacey

Kodak must decide whether to make a major investment in a production facility designed around a new technique for producing the gelatin critical to so many film and paper products. Currently, gelatin making is an arcane art, unchanged in 150 years and heavily dependent... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Buildings and Facilities; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Experience and Expertise; Engineering; Investment; Time Management; Production; Research and Development; Semiconductor Industry

December 1994
Case

Intel's Pentium: When the Chips Are Down (A)

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Norman Klein

Intel, the largest-selling manufacturer of microprocessor computer chips, finds itself in a brand-threatening situation when a flaw is revealed in its top-of-the-line Pentium chip. The story is front-page news for weeks. The company invested tens of millions of dollars... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Engineering; Crisis Management; Brands and Branding; Production; Failure; Semiconductor Industry

August 2001
Teaching Note

Apax Partners and Dialog Semiconductor: March 1998 TN

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Teaching Note for (9-201-044). View Details

Keywords: Semiconductor Industry; Semiconductor Industry

07 Mar 2005
Research & Ideas

The Rise of Innovation in Asia

industry, and even a country to the head of the class almost overnight, said Kiyotaka Fujii, president and CEO of SAP Japan Co., Ltd. That lesson was learned by Japan in the 1980s, when it was rising to prominence in some segments of the View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

17 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance

foundation upon which future innovative sectors can be built is crumbling. When the semiconductor production business moved to Asia in the 1980s, it brought with it a whole host of capabilities—electronic-materials processing, deposition... View Details

Keywords: by Gary P. Pisano & Willy C. Shih; Manufacturing

April 2025
Case

Lisa Su and AMD (A)

By: Joshua D. Margolis, Matthew Preble and Dave Habeeb

This multimedia case study focuses on CEO Lisa Su’s turnaround and subsequent transformation of the technology company Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD). When Su accepted the top position in 2014, AMD was on the verge of collapse. Su focused on the company’s culture,... View Details

June 2018 (Revised January 2020)
Teaching Note

Qualcomm Inc., 2019

By: David B. Yoffie

Teaching Note for HBS No. 718-514. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Intellectual Property; Information Technology; Standards; Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Semiconductor Industry; Semiconductor Industry

June 2015 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Epistar and the Global LED Market

By: Willy C. Shih, Chen-Fu Chien and Hung-Kai Wang

It took BJ Lee many years to learn how to navigate the patent minefield that was the global LED industry. When his company was first spun off from the Industrial Technology Research Institute in Taiwan, he thought the essence of a good IP strategy was to develop a... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property Management; Patenting; Patent Litigation; Intellectual Property; Patents; Semiconductor Industry; Semiconductor Industry; Asia; United States; Japan; Taiwan

June 1995 (Revised June 1996)
Case

Comp.Sys.Intel: The Internet and the Pentium Chip Controversy (B)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Jerry Useem

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure; Ethics; Semiconductor Industry; Semiconductor Industry

Find at Harvard

June 1995 (Revised June 1996)
Case

Comp.Sys.Intel: The Internet and the Pentium Chip Controversy (A)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Jerry Useem

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure; Ethics; Semiconductor Industry; Semiconductor Industry

Find at Harvard

April 2025
Supplement

Lisa Su and AMD (B)

By: Joshua D. Margolis, Matthew Preble and Dave Habeeb

This multimedia case study focuses on CEO Lisa Su’s turnaround and subsequent transformation of the technology company Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD). When Su accepted the top position in 2014, AMD was on the verge of collapse. Su focused on the company’s culture,... View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Leading Change; Transformation; AI and Machine Learning; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Culture; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business Strategy; Semiconductor Industry; Semiconductor Industry; United States; California; Texas

April 2025
Supplement

ZEISS: Commercializing Science

By: Maria P. Roche and Richie Zitomer

Spreadsheet Supplement for HBS Case No. 725-359. View Details

June 2018 (Revised August 2019)
Case

Qualcomm Inc., 2019

By: David B. Yoffie and Andrew S. Choi

This case is set in mid-2019, when Qualcomm was struggling with unwanted take-over battles, fights with Apple and the Chinese government, and internal dissension on the board of directors. Ten years earlier Qualcomm was hailed as a monopoly on CDMA technologies and... View Details

Keywords: Technology Cycles; Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Intellectual Property; Information Technology; Standards; Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Semiconductor Industry; Semiconductor Industry