Focusing on the "new three major components", Unisoc builds the underlying technology of smart cars

In the era of traditional automobiles, the engine, gearbox and chassis are called the "three major parts" of a car. Driven by a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, artificial intelligence and information and communication technology are empowering the automobile industry and accelerating the automobile industry's move towards the era of smart cars.

In the new era, smart cars need new capabilities. As a world-leading chip design company, Unisoc believes that connectivity, intelligence and energy are the three major elements that make up the future world. As an important part of the future world, smart cars also need to have diversified connectivity capabilities, powerful intelligent computing capabilities, and safe and reliable energy control capabilities, which can be called the "new three major components" of smart cars. Unisoc has the ability to provide high-quality chip products, technologies and solutions based on its layout in the fields of communications, intelligence, and energy, actively assume industry responsibilities, help partners build the underlying technology of smart cars, and open up space for the future travel ecosystem to enter new businesses.

What kind of chips are needed in the era of smart cars?

The "chip shortage" that began in 2020 has swept through the world so far, and major automakers around the world have been affected by it, facing the dilemma of limited production capacity or even suspension of production. Among them, insufficient production capacity is certainly part of the reason, but the advent of the smart car era has led to a surge in demand for chips in the automotive industry, which cannot be ignored.

The surge in demand for chips for smart cars is the result of a combination of factors both inside and outside the automotive industry.

On the one hand, as the functions of smart cars become increasingly rich, a large number of functions such as intelligent networking, intelligent control, smart cockpit, and autonomous driving have been added, prompting automakers to promote the upgrade of automotive electronic architecture. Therefore, the new automotive electronic architecture not only requires chips, supporting technologies and solutions to have high data throughput and high computing power, but also needs to have the ability to carry new scenarios, new services, and new ecosystems.

After continuous evolution, the automotive electronic architecture has entered the centralized stage from the original distributed system. The automotive electronic architecture has also evolved from realizing functions to fully controlling vehicles and even enabling travel scenarios. Not only has the proportion of chips increased significantly, but it has also put forward extremely high requirements on the chip's connectivity and integration capabilities.

On the other hand, the entry of new car-making forces, Internet and consumer giants has also injected new vitality into the industry, triggering changes in the manufacturing and marketing models of the automotive industry: integrated and centralized architecture shortens the manufacturing cycle and reduces costs; marketing innovations such as online sales have greatly shortened the automobile marketing chain; highly flat and software-hard separation development models have greatly shortened the automobile R&D cycle... The high-standard hardware configuration in the early stage and the rapid software updates in the later stage not only require high-computing chips, but also require technology and software to keep up with iterative needs.

At the same time, the wave of electrification and networking has subverted the driving form and application scenarios of traditional automobiles, not only making smart cars a new generation of smart terminals for entertainment and interaction, but also posing new challenges for safe and reliable energy management.

Therefore, as the "infrastructure" of smart cars, smart car chips need to have: reliable connection, powerful computing power/intelligence and wide scalability.

Unisoc builds underlying technology for smart cars

As a leading company in the integrated circuit design industry, Unisoc's accumulation in various fields can meet the needs of automotive chips for connectivity, intelligence and energy. It is one of the few manufacturers in the industry capable of building the underlying technology for the entire smart car ecosystem.

In terms of connectivity, Unisoc is one of the few companies in the world that has mastered all-scenario communication technologies such as 2G/3G/4G/5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, TV FM, satellite communications, etc. It is also one of the only five 5G communication chip manufacturers in the world, and has the first-mover advantage and core technology in the 5G era. Currently, there are more than 100 vertical industry terminal application cases based on Unisoc 5G chips, enabling thousands of industries including smart logistics, smart electricity, smart mining, smart transportation, smart manufacturing, etc., accelerating the popularization of 5G to B and helping 5G new infrastructure.

At the same time, Unisoc has a far-reaching layout in the field of AI intelligent computing. In the AI ​​Benchmark AI performance running score list of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in July 2019, Unisoc's AI chip T710 ranked first1. In addition to its outstanding achievements in the field of edge high-performance AI computing platforms, Unisoc has also established artificial intelligence joint laboratories with universities, integrating industry, academia and research to carry out basic AI research and industrial implementation, and developed a one-stop platform for AIoT. The second-generation artificial intelligence engine Aiactiver 2.0 has outstanding computing power.

In terms of scalability, Unisoc has the ability to build the underlying technology of the entire industry chain of smart cars:

First of all, Unisoc has the rare ability to integrate large-scale chips SoC and complete peripheral chips, covering various communication, computing and control chips such as mobile communication central processors, baseband chips, Bluetooth chips, Wi-Fi chips, AI chips, RF front-end chips, RF chips, power management chips, etc., and can provide a full set of highly integrated solutions.

Secondly, as the jewel of the manufacturing industry, automobiles are the epitome of various functions and requirements, especially with a strong natural demand for safety and reliability. In addition to fully deploying core technologies, a complete security technology chain and a reliable supply chain system, Unisoc is also actively deploying in the field of industrial electronics with more stringent safety standards. Unisoc's industrial Internet of Things products and smart Internet of Things solutions are currently widely used in smart cities, smart energy digital transformation, smart factories, financial payments and other industries.

Third, UNISOC’s technological accumulation in consumer electronics will help smart cars build a diversified ecosystem.

Spreadtrum plays a cornerstone role in the ecosystem of mobile phones, tablets, smart wearables, personal travel, smart homes, etc., with business covering 128 countries around the world, and has passed the shipment certification of more than 200 operators around the world, with more than 500 customers including Hisense, Nokia, Transsion, Lenovo, ZTE, TCL, Meizu, Motorola, etc. The widespread implementation of Spreadtrum products is expected to connect with the automotive ecosystem and jointly open up new scenarios, new services and new ecosystems for smart cars.

Currently, Unisoc is making comprehensive arrangements in the fields of Internet of Vehicles, smart cockpits, and autonomous driving. In the future, Unisoc will build the underlying technology of smart cars with its 5G and full-scenario connectivity, AI intelligent computing, advanced chip design, complex system integration, safe and reliable technology, and the ability to connect multiple application scenarios. It will not only help customers and partners achieve hardware integration, but also help incubate the ecosystem of software and solutions, provide "soil" for many ecological partners such as OEMs, Tier 1, and solution providers, and contribute to the formation of a new industrial ecology in the era of smart cars.

Note 1: Data from AI Benchmark  https://ai-benchmark.com/ranking.html

Unigroup Spreadtrum is a leading company in my country's integrated circuit design industry. It takes ecology as its core strategy, holds high the two technological banners of 5G and AI, and takes value, future and service as its three directions to provide intelligent services for individuals and society.

Unisoc is one of the few companies in the world that has mastered all-scenario communication technologies such as 2G/3G/4G/5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, TV FM, satellite communications, and has rare large-scale SoC integration capabilities. Products include mobile communication CPUs, baseband chips, AI chips, RF front-end chips, RF chips, and other types of communication, computing, and control chips.

UNISOC currently has nearly 5,000 employees, 90% of whom are R&D personnel, with 17 technology R&D centers and 7 customer support centers around the world. Its business covers 128 countries around the world, and it has passed the shipment certification of hundreds of operators around the world, with more than 500 customers including Hisense, Nokia, Transsion, Lenovo, ZTE, TCL, and Meizu.

UNISOC has won the National Science and Technology Progress Award five times, including one special prize and two first prizes. It has applied for more than 5,000 patents and owns core patents such as 3G/4G/5G, multi-SIM multi-standby, and multi-mode.

In February 2019, Unisoc released its self-developed 5G technology platform Makalu 1.0 and 5G baseband chip V510 in Barcelona. The single chip supports 2/3/4/5G and fully supports NSA and SA. 5G mobile phones, 5G CPE, 5G modules and other mobile terminals equipped with this chip have been put on the market for commercial use. In February 2020, Unisoc launched T7520, the industry's first 5G chip using 6nm EUV advanced process technology.