5G chips are a marathon, and the battle has not yet begun
Latest update time：2020-03-27
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In 2020, all major mobile phone manufacturers except Apple have launched their 5G flagship phones. Except for Huawei, almost all other manufacturers have chosen the configuration of "Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 + Snapdragon X55". The MediaTek Dimensity 1000, which was highly anticipated before, has not yet been unveiled. For a time, the Internet was full of various speculations, and some even believed that MediaTek's Dimensity 1000 would be a pipe dream.
Could it be that the Dimensity 1000, which attracted much attention at the beginning, really started off strong but ended up weak, to the point that no manufacturer is even willing to adopt it?
Is Dimensity 1000 not favored by manufacturers?
The Dimensity 1000 5G SoC, built using TSMC's 7nm process, was launched in November last year.
Dimensity 1000 is the world's first 5G SoC designed with Arm's flagship Cortex-A77 CPU and Mali-G77 GPU. At the beginning of its release, it won 13 industry firsts in one fell swoop. The 5G baseband integrated in Dimensity 1000 leads the industry, supports 5G dual-carrier aggregation technology, and can provide the world's fastest 5G download speed of 4.7Gbps. Compared with similar products, power consumption is reduced by 49% and performance is improved by 2 times. At the same time, Dimensity 1000 has also reduced its overall size, leaving more design space for mobile phone developers.
The launch of Dimensity 1000 has given MediaTek enough confidence in the 5G market, and all this is thanks to the company's R&D investment over the past years.
It is understood that MediaTek's R&D expenditure accounted for 19% of the company's revenue in 2013, and this figure reached 24%-25% in 2019. In addition, MediaTek also has deep technical accumulation in multiple chip fields including Bluetooth, WiFi, ASIC, AIoT, automotive chips and TV chips, which also provides many references for its mobile phone chip design. For example, Dimensity 1000 is the world's first 5G single chip with integrated WiFi 6. It is precisely thanks to MediaTek's forward-looking investment and diversified layout that such a star product was born.
MediaTek said that the Dimensity 1000 series and Dimensity 800 series have been successfully cooperating with multiple mobile phone manufacturers, and mobile phones equipped with these two series will be launched in the first half of this year. The company will launch new 5G products for the mass market in the third quarter of this year.
From this point of view, some media reports that MediaTek Dimensity 1000 has no one interested in it are really nonsense.
An important driving force for the popularization of 5G mobile phones
Although manufacturers have released 5G mobile phones one after another, judging from the market response, 5G mobile phones have not been quickly popularized among consumers. There are two main reasons for this:
On the one hand, the current 5G network coverage is not perfect. At the "2020 Financial Summit" held by the Beijing News last year, Li Yizhong, former Minister of Industry and Information Technology and President of the China Federation of Industrial Economics, said in his speech that 5G network construction requires about 6 million base stations, and it will take 6-7 years to achieve nationwide 5G network coverage;
On the other hand, and also an important aspect, the current so-called 5G flagship phones are relatively expensive. As we all know, mobile phones have become the most common electronic consumer products. Every once in a while, the performance and photography of mobile phones will be greatly improved. Even the flagship phones that were expensive two years ago may not be better than the thousand-yuan phones at present, which makes many consumers still in the wait-and-see stage. This is exactly the problem that MediaTek is committed to solving.
As we mentioned earlier, MediaTek has always had a deep accumulation of technology, including 5G, AI, Imagiq image processing technology, MiraVision image display technology, HyperEngine game optimization engine, Wi-Fi connection, etc. This allows them to apply these technologies to chips of different levels without distinction, so that mid- and low-end products can also have top-level technology, making products with more affordable prices have flagship-level application experience.
According to past experience, only when mid-range 5G smartphones that can be recognized by the general public emerge can we say that 5G is truly popular. MediaTek's mid-range 5G chip Dimensity 800 series will definitely play an important role in the popularization of 5G, which is also what MediaTek has always been good at.
In order to accelerate the popularization of 5G, in addition to promoting its own chip research and development, MediaTek also works closely with standard organizations, as well as industry partners such as operators and equipment manufacturers.
MediaTek also spares no effort in its cooperation with operators. In order to accelerate the implementation of 5G worldwide, MediaTek actively conducts 5G network tests with multiple operators around the world. In June 2019, MediaTek was the first to pass the China 5G Enhanced Technology R&D Trial organized by the IM-2020 (5G) Promotion Group, and passed rigorous indoor and outdoor tests in both SA and NSA networking modes. MediaTek's technical expert Johan Johansson was elected chairman of 3GPP RAN2 in 2019.
Because only with a strong enough foundation in 5G can MediaTek's 5G chips have a chance to take off. At the end of last year, MediaTek grandly announced that it would work with Intel to introduce its latest 5G modem to the personal computer market. MediaTek is bringing 5G capabilities to more fields.
The 5G War Is About to Start
A few years ago, MediaTek stopped the research and development of the 4G high-end Helio X series. The absence of high-end chips for a while made many people look at the MediaTek brand with tinted glasses.
But it turns out that MediaTek has never been a manufacturer that lacks high-end technology and products. For example, Sony's recently launched 98-inch 8K top-level TV, which is priced at 520,000 RMB, is equipped with MediaTek's high-end TV chip. In other aspects such as the market share of router Wi-Fi chips, MediaTek is also ahead of Qualcomm. In the field of TV chips, MediaTek has a high market share of more than 60%. From this, we can see MediaTek's confidence in high-end chips. The 13 firsts achieved by the mobile phone business on Dimensity 1000 mentioned earlier are the most powerful proof.
For MediaTek, Dimensity 5G SoC is not only an important support for them to return to the high-end market, but also a weapon for them to compete with Qualcomm.
The Dimensity 1000 has an advantage that even Qualcomm's high-end flagships cannot match, and that is that they use a 5G SoC design in their products.
As readers know, the SoC integrated single-chip design has higher integration and lower power consumption advantages than the "AP+Modem" used by Snapdragon 865, and can save more internal space of the mobile phone. The high-end flagship Snapdragon 865 deviates from the development trend of the industry, which has been criticized by the media and netizens. In comparison, Dimensity 1000 has the advantage between the two.
In addition, MediaTek has an inherent advantage, that is, they have a deep relationship with TSMC, the world's leading wafer foundry, and have an advantage in process level. It is worth mentioning that MediaTek's 5G millimeter wave solution is also being carried out in full swing and will be launched next year. This further demonstrates their technical strength and lays a solid foundation for their battle in the high-end market. Judging from the external competition, now is also a good opportunity for MediaTek to rise.
From the perspective of the competition landscape of smartphone chips, Apple, Huawei and Samsung all have their own chips. There are currently only three major players in the open chip market, namely Qualcomm, MediaTek and Unisoc. Among the three, Qualcomm faces the risk of Sino-US trade, and Unisoc also entered the market relatively late, which is undoubtedly the biggest opportunity for MediaTek.
More importantly, in the current smartphone market, Huawei and Apple rely on their own advantages in the entire industry chain to directly block the market for mobile phones priced above 5,000 yuan. For other mobile phone manufacturers using Qualcomm solutions, if they want to find more room for growth, MediaTek, which has a pricing advantage, will be a wise choice.
MediaTek also stated that despite the uncertainty in the current overall economic trend, the impact on the company's business throughout the year is still within controllable range. By then, revenue from new areas such as 5G, customized chips and automotive electronics will account for more than 15%, especially in terms of 5G chips. During the entire 5G life cycle, MediaTek expects to capture 40% of the market share of outsourced 5G mobile phone chips.
2020 will surely be a year of growth for MediaTek and a starting point for MediaTek to reach new heights. When MediaTek, which is accumulating strength, releases its ultimate move, that will be when the war truly begins.
*Disclaimer: This article is originally written by the author. The content of the article is the author's personal opinion. Semiconductor Industry Observer reprints it only to convey a different point of view. It does not mean that Semiconductor Industry Observer agrees or supports this point of view. If you have any objections, please contact Semiconductor Industry Observer.
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