台灣生物晶片產業競爭力分析

Analysis of the Competitiveness of Biochip Industry in Taiwan

生物晶片產業是屬於技術密集、資本密集、高風險、高報酬、回收期長的產業。生物晶片技術融合了生命科學、化學、半導體、微機電、電腦科學、統計學和生物資訊學等諸多學科領域，具有高通量、簡便、微縮、集約化、平行化等優點。生物晶片技術利用半導體晶片輕薄短小但能容納大量資訊的特性，以半導體技術將數百萬個DNA或核酸探針，植入玻璃或矽晶片等載體，執行一連串的生化分析與檢驗，從事各種新藥開發、個人識別、法醫鑑定犯罪、臨床診斷等有關的工作，在醫療檢驗上能帶給人們很大的助益。現今，生物晶片公司大多集中於研究開發基因表現、基因定型、高速篩檢檢驗、核酸定序等領域。但是由於技術研究發展、人員訓練培養、市場資訊收集與建立等方面的不足，大部份的生物晶片廠商尚處於虧損狀態。隨著重點專利陸續到期、政府資金挹注以及相關的輔導政策，支持著生技產業的發展。本研究運用產業分析模式，分析生物晶片產業，並由技術面、財務面與策略面探究美國三大生物晶片廠商的經營策略與關鍵成功因素，配合國內生物晶片的產業環境與市場的競爭力，提出對未來發展的策略建議。期望能夠有助於國內生物晶片廠商在全球生技產業的競爭中，找到合適的發展策略。

Biochip industry is characterized as being technology intensive, capital intensive, high risk, long time before reaching break-even point, and high return if technology breakthrough exists. It requires inter-disciplinary knowledge in life science, chemistry, semiconductor, micro electrical and mechanical systems, computer science, statistics, and bio-informatics. Biochip employs the characteristics of semiconductor integrated circuit technology, which allows millions of samples of DNA or RNA to be stored in the tiny cells of silicon or glass substrate. Each of the cells can perform biochemical analysis or test simultaneously. Therefore, the biochip has advantages of high throughput, simplicity, convenience, integration and parallel processing etc. It can reduce significant time and cost in application areas such as new drug development, personal identification, criminal scene investigation, medical diagnosis, etc. Biochip companies focus their R&D in gene expression, genotyping, high-speed screening test, DNA sequencing, etc. However, most biochip companies are still at a loss because of difficulty in technology breakthrough. This research applied the industry analysis model to analyze the global biochip industry, and the strategies and the competitiveness of the top three biochip companies in the United States. Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of Taiwan’s biochip industry and the market demand, this research proposed possible developing strategies and opportunities for Taiwan’s biochip companies.