From involution to innovation, domestic RF chips will embark on an independent path
Radio frequency chips are widely used in wireless communication fields such as mobile phones, WiFi routers, and base stations. From a demand perspective, the global mobile phone market and WiFi router market demand have declined to varying degrees in recent years. However, base stations may be affected by technology upgrades and policies. increase. For example, Yole has pointed out that the market for radio frequency components used in macro base stations will reach US$3.2 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow to US$3.8 billion by 2028.
On the one hand, the market demand prospects are unclear, and on the other hand, the supply side presents a complex pattern. There are many domestic RF chip companies and they are concentrated in mid- to downstream products. High-end RF chip products are still monopolized by foreign giants. Domestic companies are still catching up and are in the market. in a changing environment.
However, breakthrough innovations in domestic radio frequency chips are gradually emerging. For example, on August 31 this year, China Mobile released the country's first commercial reconfigurable 5G radio frequency transceiver chip "Pofeng 8676", which effectively improved the independent controllability of my country's 5G network core equipment. China also has considerable policy foundation in the fields of semiconductors and base stations, waiting for the gradual growth of enterprises and products.
The fifth "Xinshiye-Hard Core Annual Event" organized by Xinshiye, the industry's leading semiconductor electronic information media, brought together more than a hundred related companies in the Chinese semiconductor field. This article specially invites four companies in the field of radio frequency chips to communicate on the application and technological development of radio frequency chips.
The following is a list of companies (in no particular order):
●Suzhou Hantianxia Electronics Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Hantianxia")
●Shenzhen Jiesheng Micro Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Jiesheng Micro")
●Changzhou Qianmi Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Qianmi Electronics")
●Xinbaite Microelectronics (Wuxi) Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Xinbaite")
The R&D project of Suzhou Hantianxia Electronics Co., Ltd. began in Guizhou Zhongke Hantianxia Electronics Co., Ltd. in 2012. It focuses on the design, R&D, production and sales of RF front-end chips and modules. The core team is from famous universities at home and abroad. It is the first in China to fully master the mass production technology of bulk acoustic wave filters, and is committed to solving the long-term monopoly of high-end bulk acoustic wave filter chips by foreign countries. It is the first domestic RF front-end chip with bulk acoustic wave filters as the core and its own production line. and module companies.
Shenzhen Jiesheng Micro Semiconductor Co., Ltd. is a high-tech company founded by a team of returnee PhDs. Headquartered in Xi'an, it is one of the companies that can provide the most comprehensive products and solutions in the industry. Product categories cover more than 50 packaging forms and more than 10,000 models. The company has a complete independent research and development system and masters a number of domestic leading key core technologies. It has developed various types of magnetic switch series chips, magnetic speed and direction sensor chips, linear sensor chips and magnetic encoder chips and other products.
Qianmi Electronics was co-founded in September 2015 by a group of senior engineers with more than fifteen years of R&D experience in the fields of integrated circuits and communications. The core team was established in 2016. Since then, the Qianmi core team has been dedicated to solving The biggest pain point in the IoT industry is that a large amount of IoT demand cannot be converted into effective demand due to poor return on investment. We have successfully developed LaKi, a wireless technology that can simultaneously meet wide coverage, low power consumption and low latency.
CoreBate Microelectronics (Wuxi) Co., Ltd. was established in October 2018. It is a private high-tech specialized enterprise founded by returned overseas talents specializing in the design, development and sales of high-performance RF front-end chips. Its main products Lines include WiFi, 5G communications, AIoT, UWB, V2X, etc. The company is headquartered in Huishan Economic Development Zone, Wuxi City, with branches in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xi'an, Chengdu, and Hong Kong. It is committed to promoting the world's leading high-performance radio frequency chip technology to China and providing Chinese chips for the Chinese people.
Source: Master Xin
Lai Zhiguo
Han Tianxia Chief Technology Officer
The company's current core products are bulk acoustic wave filters and radio frequency front-end module chips . The company's core competitiveness is firstly the company's accumulation in bulk acoustic wave filter design and mass production technology since its establishment, and secondly its own wafer fab . As you may all know, Broadcom and Qorvo, the two radio frequency manufacturers with the highest market share of bulk acoustic wave filters in the world, both use IDM mode to block design and technology, and their gross profit margins are much higher than that of domestic design companies. However, domestic bulk acoustic wave filter manufacturers still mainly rely on OEM in the mass production process, and domestic OEM companies are not mature in advanced bulk acoustic wave technology. This has also led to the delay in making major breakthroughs in domestic high-end filters. Hantianxia built its own wafer factory, thus forming a business model that integrates bulk acoustic wave filter R&D, design, production and manufacturing . This greatly shortens the R&D and mass production cycle, and is conducive to product development and rapid iteration. Launch new products that meet downstream market requirements to ensure product quality and supply chain security.
Yang Jingxuan
General Manager of Jieshengwei
The company's current radio frequency chips (products) are mainly RC 522, RC 523, CV 520 and PN 512 that can replace NXP (NXP), including Jiesheng Micro's 663. Its application fields include smart homes, access control, card swiping machines, and Including POS machines, etc.
Relatively speaking, the core technology of Jiesheng Micro is from the development of chip front-end to later customer applications, software and hardware applications. Engineering personnel will assist in the entire process, and the company will provide comprehensive technical supporting services . The company's products have now reached diversification, and have reached high-end in terms of hardware, and the price/performance ratio is relatively high. Currently, they are not even half the price of imported products.
Source: Jieshengwei
Dai Yong
Co-founder of Qianmi Electronics
Because LaKi is one of the few wireless technologies in the world based on the 2.4G Hz frequency band, it has some unique advantages. First of all, it is a free frequency band around the world and can be used universally. Second, LaKi can also share antennas with some technologies such as Bluetooth and WiFi used in wearable devices, smartphones and other devices, which can save valuable device space .
Source: Qianmi Electronics
Zhang Haitao
Xinbaite CEO & CTO
Source: Xinbaite
Lai Zhiguo
Han Tianxia Chief Technology Officer
Source: Han Tianxia
Dai Yong
Co-founder of Qianmi Electronics
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Internet of Things : With the continuous development of Internet of Things technology, RF chip design will pay more attention to low power consumption, low cost, higher bandwidth and other aspects of performance, and the integration level will become higher and higher to reduce BOM costs and realize Chip As A Module. , to adapt to the needs of various IoT devices.
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5G communication technology : With the popularization and development of 5G communication technology, radio frequency chip design will pay more attention to the performance of high frequency, high speed and high power to meet the communication needs of higher speed, lower delay and higher stability.
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Manufacturing process : With the continuous advancement of manufacturing processes, RF chip design will pay more attention to aspects such as integration, performance, and stability to meet the requirements for higher performance, lower cost, and greater reliability.
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AI and smart home : With the continuous development of AI and smart home technology, RF chip design will pay more attention to the performance of intelligent control, low power consumption and network management to adapt to the needs of various smart home devices.
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RF front-end integration : RF front-end integration is an important trend in current RF chip design. By integrating multiple RF components together, costs, size, performance, and power consumption can be reduced, etc.
In short, RF chip design will develop in the direction of high frequency, high speed, low power consumption, low cost, miniaturization, integration and intelligence to meet the needs of various communications, Internet of Things, automotive electronics, military industry and other fields .
Source: Qianmi Electronics
Zhang Haitao
Xinbaite CEO & CTO
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Performance requirements are getting higher and higher , getting closer and closer to the limits of materials and processes;
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Different technical paths, multi-die combinations of different materials and processes, and a balance of cost performance ;
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The trend of IDM Fablite , the exploration of Fabless Company’s Hybrid IDM or Virtual IDM model;
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Application of advanced packaging technology : Flip-Chip packaging technology is used for better heat dissipation, and Fan-In and Fan-Out packaging technology is used to reduce parasitic RF parameters.
Source: Xinbaite
Lai Zhiguo
Han Tianxia Chief Technology Officer
Source: Han Tianxia
Dai Yong
Co-founder of Qianmi Electronics
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Opportunities: 5G communication technology has greater demand for radio frequency chips because 5G requires higher data transmission rates, lower latency and higher network density. In addition, 5G also uses higher frequency bands and more complex modulation methods, which requires more advanced and efficient radio frequency chips . Therefore, RF chip companies can take advantage of this opportunity to expand market share and increase sales and profitability.
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Challenge: 5G communication technology has higher requirements for radio frequency chips. 5G requires higher frequency, larger bandwidth and stronger signal processing capabilities, which requires RF chip companies to have stronger R&D capabilities and technical strength. In addition, 5G also requires radio frequency chips to have smaller size, lower power consumption and lower cost , which requires radio frequency chip companies to continuously improve manufacturing processes and optimize designs.
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Response methods: Enterprises can take the following measures to deal with the opportunities and challenges of the 5G era:
In short, RF chip companies need to continuously innovate and optimize production and market strategies in the 5G era to cope with opportunities and challenges.
Source: Qianmi Electronics
Zhang Haitao
Xinbaite CEO&CTO
The requirements for RF chips in the 5G era are getting higher and higher, mainly reflected in higher integration . The previously used MMMB plus filter module can no longer meet the needs of 5G communication. L-PAMiD/PAMiD needs to be used. form, which poses greater challenges to the performance/heat dissipation of the RF module. RF chip R&D companies need to have a more complete understanding of the entire industry chain and related design/manufacturing capabilities, as well as system integration capabilities, which will also be the core competitiveness of future product competition .
Source: Xinbaite
The content of this article is compiled based on the information provided by the company and is for communication and learning purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact us at info@gsi24.com.
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