Invitation letter for the first PCB Designers Day in 2018

Challenges and opportunities of IC in the post-Moore era

Characteristics of the Post-Moorish Era

As the process line width enters the atomic level of tens of nanometers, Moore's Law, which reflects the law of silicon process development, will eventually become unsustainable. Therefore, in the post-Moore era, making full use of mature semiconductor process technology to integrate more functions and technologies on a single chip has become the most important focus of IC technology. The emergence of system-on-chip (SoC) means that IC has evolved from the original circuit and scale integration to the knowledge integration of the information age. This transformation will have far-reaching impacts in many aspects.

First, the development of IC to system chip has changed the organizational structure of the IC design industry itself to a considerable extent. SoC needs to integrate various professional technologies contained in a specific electronic system into a single chip, which requires the integration of different professional backgrounds and different knowledge fields. IC design has expanded to the complete electronic product development process, including system algorithm design, embedded CPU/DSP hardware and software co-design, chip logic design and layout design, chip testing and reliability and yield control, chip application hardware solutions and embedded software solution development. This broad demand for knowledge and talent cannot be cultivated by a specific major. As a chip design company, it is necessary to achieve knowledge integration and talent integration through a combination of different professional knowledge and talents.

Second, the development of IC to system chip has profoundly affected the industrial structure of the entire electronic products industry with IC as the core. The system solution development task originally undertaken by the whole machine enterprise has been pre-positioned to the chip design enterprise, and the solution has built an important bridge for the chip to be transformed into a product. As various functions and services are integrated into the chip, providing convenient and fast complete solutions has become one of the most important competitive means for chip design companies to occupy the market in the first place. In line with this development, for the whole machine enterprise, the well-trained technical personnel freed from the solution development can be invested more in quality and brand management, and global resource integration can be achieved through outsourcing production and quality control, transforming from Chinese brand Made in China to world brand Global Manufacturing.

Third, as ICs develop into system chips, the development of embedded application products that combine software and hardware will become the mainstream of innovation. In the field of embedded applications, software and hardware will be inseparable, and "chip + embedded software" will replace the traditional "disc + program" software products that are separated from hardware, becoming a more common product form in the post-Moore era. Taking the digital TV chip products developed by Hangzhou NationalChip as an example, the hardware implementation of the chip has multiple CPUs/DSPs built in, and through embedded software programming, it can flexibly respond to the complex implementation requirements of various audio and video standards. As a typical chip design company, the development process of chip products is objectively manifested as an embedded software development process supported by chip hardware design implementation. The company's technological innovation is reflected in the continuous launch of innovative chip products that meet the needs of market development.

Opportunities for local companies

IC is the food of the electronic information industry. my country occupies one-third of the global IC product market share, but only one-thirtieth of it is produced by itself, and less than one-third of the IC products designed by itself! The country now emphasizes independent innovation, changes the economic growth model, elevates the construction of an innovative country to the national development model, and elevates the enhancement of independent innovation capabilities to the national development strategy. Therefore, in the post-Moore era of system integration, how to make the development of my country's IC industry better serve the needs of building an innovative country does require us to think seriously and take positive actions.

Looking back at the history of IC development, it is based on the prosperity of the IC industry that has created the PC industry with decades of glory. However, in the post-Moore era, where the development of embedded application products combining software and hardware is the mainstream of innovation, due to the wide range of various application fields, it is impossible for a single product to monopolize technology, demand and market. Whether in the fastest-growing consumer electronics industry, or in the intelligent upgrading and transformation of the industrial field that the country focuses on supporting, or in emerging market fields such as the Internet of Things that have attracted much attention, embedded applications of various forms will play a core role. In order to adapt to the development needs of such application markets, some companies have taken positive actions. For example, Intel has entered the ranks of embedded software development through the acquisition of Wind River, and Microsoft has stopped using the promotion strategy tied to Intel. If the development of the PC industry has created a generation of Wintel's deification, then in the post-Moore era, for Chinese companies that are in a rapid rise, there should be a lot to do and strive to write a more glorious chapter in history!