Self-developed chips set high barriers to entry, and ASIC business opportunities attract design and IP majors to covet them

AI has become the most important keyword in the entire technology industry, and it has also prompted major cloud companies to expand their self-developed computing chips. However, considering that the threshold for non-semiconductor-related companies to enter chip design is too high, it is more cost-effective to find IC design companies to cooperate in the ASIC model. It is understood that in addition to IC design companies, major manufacturers with large amounts of IP also want to join this growing market.

Taiwanese companies, including Sechip and Creativity, have all been named as beneficiaries of this wave of AI boom. However, the news that major American companies, including Broadcom and Marvell, have recently bagged large orders is more clear. The former has already Google and Meta have long-term cooperation, and the latter is reported to have grabbed Amazon's latest self-developed chip order.

Sechip and Creativity were named as beneficiaries of this wave of AI boom.

Recently, the management of Sechip and Creative have also pointed out that although the consumer market is still uncertain, the rapid development of AI will bring excellent growth performance to ASIC-related businesses. The demand for self-developed chips by major cloud manufacturers has become a major concern for various companies. Great post from designers.

This trend has naturally attracted the attention of more and more manufacturers, who are trying to enter the market. For example, the Taiwanese leader MediaTek has significantly increased its mentions of ASIC business in recent years. People familiar with IC design pointed out that MediaTek is gradually entering the high-efficiency computing (HPC) chip market through the development of its ASIC business.

Although MediaTek has no plans to build its own platform products in the short term, MediaTek's actions have already put some pressure on other Taiwanese ASIC manufacturers. Even though some peers are not optimistic about it, MediaTek's development in the computing market is getting better and better. trend.

With a large amount of technology and IP accumulated in the imaging field, Novatek has also launched ASIC business in recent years. It has also seen that more and more end customers provide customer customization in order to create product differentiation for applications such as TVs, mobile phones, and high-end displays. to display the services of the relevant IC.

It can also be clearly seen from this case that now it is not just cloud manufacturers that want to launch self-developed chips. More and more brand players hope to find ways to upgrade unique functions from the chip side.

IC design-related industry insiders admit that there are many brands or technology companies on the market that want to invest in self-developed chips in recent years. However, in fact, to enter the field of IC design, the resources and time required to invest are quite huge, and there is a risk of development failure. They also coexist.

For example, Google is actively recruiting IC design talents around the world, hoping to achieve some breakthroughs in the semiconductor field, but so far, there have been no significant results, and it still has to rely on Broadcom's ASIC business support.

To sum up, the ASIC service market does have the opportunity to continue to grow. However, this service not only tests the depth of IP and technology, but also requires a real demand for special products for related functional chips. Not every industry will see the opportunity. Eat.