Ur 1st point is right only when ...Ur 1st point is right only when the chip development is also done by the company's own R&D forcce. If not, this kind of in-house development still belongs to system level integration. But I don't think 2 or 3 phds are enough for both chip development(IC design/fabrication/test) and system integration later on.
add on:
2 or 3 phds maybe enough if they do not use any ICs in their design at all.
Huasing Association 1999 - 2013