The changes and unchanged aspects of ADI in China

In the electronics industry, Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen, China, is a special existence. This is first reflected in its market position - a microcosm of China's electronics industry; on the other hand, according to Zhao Chuanyu, Vice President of Sales of ADI China, Huaqiangbei shows a spirit of "dare to be the first in the world".

"From a certain perspective, Huaqiangbei represents the entrepreneurial spirit of the entire China." Zhao Chuanyu told the Semiconductor Industry Observer reporter. He went on to point out that compared with other countries, China's terminal manufacturers have a faster pace, which allows them to enter the product market earlier than others and gain a first-mover advantage. "Many of the customers we support in China no longer just say in China for China, but in China for Global. This is an experience that makes me feel proud and even has a sense of urgency." Zhao Chuanyu said.

Zhao Chuanyu, Vice President of Sales, ADI China

As an American chip company that entered China in 1995 and has a wealth of high-quality products, ADI has played an important role in the rise of Huaqiangbei and even the entire Chinese electronics industry. As the Chinese market changes, ADI is also following the trend to better serve local customers.

When asked about the changes in Chinese customers, Zhao Chuanyu gave an example: "More than 20 years ago, the way ADI cooperated with Chinese customers was that we innovate first and then recommend these products to Chinese customers. But in the past ten years, , especially in the past five years, more and more Chinese customers have stepped ahead of us and asked us for help in customizing chips to help them become leaders."

In view of this, ADI announced in December 2020 that it would increase investment in the Chinese market and upgrade Analog Devices Semiconductor Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. to Analog Devices Investment Co., Ltd. as ADI's headquarters for investment and operations in China. , which is also an important measure for ADI to implement its localization strategy in the Chinese market.

According to ADI, after this upgrade, ADI China will have all-round capabilities from demand research, product definition, research and development, marketing and operations. The new company will target the Chinese market, develop products with local independent decision-making, and provide flexible RMB payment and settlement models. In the future, it also plans to set up a logistics and warehousing center in China, and gradually improve the local supply chain and production cooperation system to enhance support for Chinese customers. intensity.

"ADI has always positioned itself as a member of China's semiconductor ecosystem, and we hope to innovate together with industry partners. For example, by combining our iterations in hardware, innovation in algorithms, and customers' understanding of the market, we can jointly achieve Technological progress has made many impossible things possible," Zhao Chuanyu emphasized.

Specific to products, as ADI CEO Vincent Roche said in a speech not long ago, as a socially responsible company, ADI should devote its limited energy to those issues that have the greatest impact on society and need to be solved most. In his view, there are currently two very big problems that need to be solved, namely, their own health and the health of the earth.

Focusing on these two aspects, ADI has also developed diversified strategies and launched many solutions. For example, edge intelligence is an important direction of ADI's recent efforts. "We believe that edge intelligence represents a big era in the future." Zhao Chuanyu said.

In Zhao Chuanyu's view, the era of edge intelligence will face many challenges. For example, how to achieve accurate perception is one of the keys. This involves sensor technology and real-time processing. In order to pursue real-time performance and reliability, all data processing functions may need to be completed at the edge. After processing, decisions must be made to trigger corresponding actions. "Because all the above processes must be completed at the millisecond level, the technical requirements are obvious, which also means that there are still many hurdles that need to be overcome." Zhao Chuanyu said.

According to Zhao Chuanyu, ADI hopes to become a technological leader in the era of edge intelligence, accelerate the arrival of this era through innovative analog, digital and software technologies, and at the same time empower more customers, so that everyone can enjoy what this era brings. dividends.

Seeing this, readers familiar with ADI may be confused. Because the chip giant we are familiar with is famous for its analog chips, why should it invest in the digital market to innovate? In response to this question, Zhao Chuanyu responded: "This is a response strategy made by the company in response to changes in customers' technical needs."

He first admitted that in the past, companies only needed to provide high-performance analog devices, and customers could design their own systems and build products. But in recent years, customers' requirements for ADI have not been limited to providing devices. On the one hand, product delivery cycles are becoming shorter and shorter, and systems are becoming more and more complex. Therefore, customers will hope that suppliers like ADI can provide overall design services and treat the technical support department as their engineers. .

Based on this insight, ADI has now slowly shifted its positioning from simply providing analog devices to analog, digital and even software, providing more complete solutions and realizing its vision of serving applications such as future edge intelligence.

"Everything we do now, including adjustments to strategies and positioning, comes more from our customers' requirements for us." Zhao Chuanyu emphasized.

When asked about the chip supply situation that everyone is concerned about, Zhao Chuanyu told reporters that ADI currently has more than 75,000 products, more than 90% of which can return to the 13-week delivery period before the epidemic by the end of this year. When talking about the potential impact of geopolitical issues on the company's layout in China, Zhao Chuanyu affirmed: "ADI attaches great importance to the Chinese market." Some of the changes in ADI's operations in China mentioned at the beginning of the article are one of them. In ADI's view, this can also dispel customers' concerns to a certain extent.

Zhao Chuanyu also pointed out that semiconductors must be the product of global collaboration and division of labor, and there is no way to simply separate them by region. This is why ADI has always advocated global collaboration, placing everyone in the middle of the entire ecosystem, and maximizing their position. To this day, ADI continues to do so.

"Facing the future, ADI will, as always, first find its own positioning, then perfect it, and then cooperate with each other to jointly prosper the market. As a member of China's local semiconductor ecosystem, ADI hopes to work with everyone to transform China's semiconductor industry , China’s scientific and technological innovation is doing better,” Zhao Chuanyu told reporters.

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