Chips have gradually penetrated into all walks of life, and mobile phones, home appliances, and automobiles are no exception. In recent years, facing the global chip dilemma, many companies such as vivo, OPPO, and Geely have threatened to develop their own chips. This year, the global chip industry has been changing constantly. In addition to speeding up the development of chips, some companies have also expanded their business layout by expanding into new areas. 01Car manufacturers, mobile phone manufacturers, etc. to step up R&D and layout Part.1 Mobile phone manufacturers strive to survive the harsh winter of the market According to TrendForce, a global research institute, judging from the performance of the whole year in 2022, the first half of the year was mainly affected by the epidemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the second half was the inflation crisis. The annual production volume was about 1.333 billion. However, if the epidemic continues, coupled with the combined impact of inflation and energy shortages, the global smartphone market may face another downward revision. Faced with the situation of the smartphone market, mobile phone manufacturers are still working hard on chip technology, hoping to survive this severe winter. Recently, Xiaomi brought the latest news. On July 4, Xiaomi released the world's first Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ flagship Mi 12S series. Xiaomi Mi 12S Ultra uses Xiaomi's fourth self-developed chip, Xiaomi Surging G1, which is a battery management chip. The surging series that Xiaomi has released are the surging pinecone S1, surging C1 and surging P1. Last year, Hu Boshan, executive vice president and chief operating officer of vivo, disclosed vivo's chip strategy for the first time. vivo mainly focuses on four long tracks of design, imaging, system and performance. In September 2021, vivo officially announced that the first self-developed professional imaging chip was named "vivo V1", which was first launched by the vivo X70 series. In April this year, vivo's second-generation dual-core flagship self-developed chip V1+ was installed on the vivo X80 series of smartphones. At the end of 2019, Zheku, an OPPO subsidiary, established a chip team. At present, the OPPO chip R&D team has more than 2,000 people. At the end of 2021, OPPO released the first self-developed NPU chip dedicated to 6nm imaging - Mariana MariSilicon X. Since the establishment of Huawei HiSilicon in 2004, Huawei has officially set sail for the development of mobile phone chips. In terms of mobile phone chips, after continuous development, Huawei HiSilicon developed the first SoC chip Kirin 910 in 2013, and then successively launched Kirin 920, Kirin 925, Kirin 950, Kirin 980 and other chips. Starting with the Kirin 950, Huawei HiSilicon's SoC chips have begun to integrate self-developed ISP modules. Kirin chips have gradually achieved upgrades and iterations. The Kirin 9000 series chips released by Huawei are the world's first 5G SoCs using a 5nm process, and they are also Huawei's most advanced chips. This year, on January 1, Huawei launched the Kirin 830 and Kirin 720 processors, which are upgraded versions of the Kirin 820 and Kirin 710 respectively. According to a recent report from Fast Technology, it is reported that Huawei is expected to update the Kirin 830 and Kirin 720 chips in 2022, and use the 14nm process. In addition, Huawei continues to explore chip stacking technology. At the 2021 annual report conference held in March 2022, Huawei publicly confirmed the chip stacking technology for the first time. Guo Ping, Huawei's rotating chairman, said that using area for performance and stacking for performance enables products with less advanced technology to be competitive." In April of the same year, Huawei disclosed chip stacking patents and stacking packaging patents. Part.2 Home appliance companies reveal new achievements Hisense, Midea, Gree and others are actively deploying chips across borders. What are the latest achievements this year? In January 2022, Hisense released China's first fully self-developed 8K AI image quality chip, filling the gap of localized ultra-high-definition image quality chips. Hisense has formed a complete full range of chip products. It is reported that the 4th generation of image quality chips launched by Hisense have achieved mass production. In January 2022, Gree stated that the microcontroller chips and power device chips with large consumption have been independently developed and put into use in large quantities, and some chips have been developed to the second generation; the EM32 series developed by its subsidiary Zhuhai Zero Boundary is universal. The annual output of industrial control 32-bit MCUs reaches tens of millions, which are mainly used in Gree's full range of air-conditioning products. Gree started the chip plan in 2018, first established the microelectronics department, and then invested 1 billion yuan to establish Zhuhai Zero Boundary, focusing on the development and design of MCU chips, AIoT SoCs, and power device chips for home appliances such as air conditioners. In March 2022, Midea Group stated on the interactive platform that it will mainly put into production MCU chips from 2020 to 2021, and start mass production in 2021, with an annual mass production scale of about 10 million. In 2024, Midea can achieve mass production of automotive chips, which will first be used in the control of water pumps for new energy vehicles. Since Midea Group established Shanghai Meiren Semiconductor in 2018, it has begun to develop chip development in the fields of home appliances, industry, vehicle regulations, and medical care. Part.3 The new action of the depot? At present, BYD can produce various chips such as MCU, sensor, power management, discrete device (IGBT/SiC), etc. In the field of automotive-grade chips, the 8-bit MCU BS9000AMXX series was launched in March this year. As early as 2008, BYD acquired Ningbo Zhongwei and began to independently develop automotive-grade IGBT chips; in 2018, it developed the first-generation 8-bit automotive-grade MCU chips. In the field of SiC power devices, in 2020, BYD Semiconductor launched the first 1200V 840A/700A three-phase full-bridge SiC power module to achieve large-scale application in motor drive controllers for high-end models of new energy vehicles. In June this year, BYD Semiconductor launched a 1200V 1040A SiC power module. Geely, a car maker, has made an in-depth layout in the chip field through self-research, acquisition and other models. In terms of acquisitions, on July 4, Geely's Xingji Times officially acquired Meizu Technology, a mobile phone manufacturer, holding a 79.09% controlling stake in Meizu Technology and gaining independent control of Meizu Technology. In terms of chip research and development, in October 2021, Geely Automobile announced that the first self-developed 7-nanometer process vehicle-grade SOC "smart cockpit chip" chip will be mass-produced; in 2023, the first 7-nanometer, high computing power autonomous driving chip will be launched. ; In 2025, it will launch an autonomous driving chip with a 5-nanometer process, fully master the L5-level autonomous driving technology, and realize the commercial application of L4-level autonomous driving. In addition to mobile phones and cars, Geely also deploys low-orbit satellites. Geely plans to complete the networking of 72 IoT communication satellites and 168 navigation-enhanced low-orbit constellations in 2026 to achieve "global no-blind zone" communication and centimeter-level high-precision positioning coverage. In addition to the above-mentioned enterprises, ZTE, a communications equipment company, and Nexperia, a vehicle-grade power manufacturer, have also launched corresponding deployments one after another. ZTE stated on the investor interaction platform in February that the company has established an automotive electronics product line, laid out and developed automotive SOC chips, in-vehicle operating systems and basic platform software products, reached strategic cooperation with FAW Group and SAIC Group, and established a joint innovation center. . For 5nm chips, ZTE said that the company will reasonably arrange chip research and development plans based on product research and development, market demand and technology evolution trends. In 2020, Nexperia established two new semiconductor global R&D centers, located in Penang, Malaysia and Shanghai. In 2021, Nexperia revealed that several analog product projects have been launched in its R&D center in Penang, Malaysia; while the R&D center in Shanghai will continue to focus on power MOSFETs to accelerate growth in the fields of interface, analog and power management. In March, according to eeNews, Nexperia opened its first design center in North America and intends to hire 100 engineers in Dallas, Texas, to support the new power management and analog chip business units. The new business unit will develop more complex chips, including voltage regulators and data converters, to complement its discrete power devices. 02 Changes in the global chip industry? At present, the chip industry is unstable, but risks and opportunities coexist. The global chip competition is intensifying. Giants such as Intel, Qualcomm, Nvidia, and AMD are continuously increasing their efforts and scales. With the help of their own technologies and strategies, the new pattern of global chip competition may change unknowingly. It is worth mentioning that the acquisition of the three major chip giants that has been sensational in the industry for a long time has come to an end. In the end, AMD successfully acquired Xilinx for about $50 billion, Intel finally acquired High Tower Semiconductor for about $5.4 billion, and only Nvidia failed to acquire Arm. After AMD acquired Xilinx, it has three major product lines of CPU + GPU + FPGA, and then announced the acquisition of cloud service provider Pensando for about 1.9 billion US dollars, officially entering the DPU field. Intel's acquisition of Finland's Siru Innovations has further enhanced its GPU technology capabilities. In addition, Broadcom intends to achieve a "combination" of software and hardware, and plans to acquire cloud service provider VMware for $61 billion. In recent years, with the rapid iteration of 5G, Internet of Things, automotive electronics, security and other technologies, it has driven the transformation of consumer electronics, communications, industry and other fields, and expanded the overall demand for chips. After the outbreak of the epidemic, the world began to usher in a "chip shortage tide". . However, in 2022, the situation of "lack of core" has changed. Earlier in late June, SMIC held an online 2022 annual general meeting. Co-CEO Zhao Haijun said that products such as the company's MCU, ultra-low power consumption, power management and drivers are still in short supply, and the production capacity cannot meet the needs of leading customers. need. But the market is changing, and it has transformed from a "core shortage" to a structural shortage. At present, the demand for consumer electronics such as PCs and mobile phones is weak, but some markets such as automobiles still lack cores, and the global "core shortage" has gradually turned into a structural shortage. However, on the whole, the chip industry still maintains a high prosperity. 03 Conclusion One of the most obvious features of the chip industry is the high technical barriers and entry barriers. As mentioned above, the global chip is undergoing a new change. In order to cope with the changing market, companies in various fields continue to enter the chip industry, strive to overcome independent research and development of chips and expand business in new fields, aiming to improve their own supply. chain and occupy the competitive high ground. But in order to stand out from the huge competition, it is essential for enterprises to have the ability to incubate their own core industrial chain. No matter what the future changes, many companies are making great efforts to develop self-developed chips. With the accumulation of time, the competing efforts of many companies will also set off huge waves in the semiconductor chip industry.