Chip strong military domestic EDA software service provider core vision Independent research and development to meet the strongest outlet of domestic substitution

China Listed Companies Network/Article

On January 6, 2022, the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission disclosed the prospectus (filing draft) of Beijing Core Vision Software Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Core Vision"), which intends to be listed on the main board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and the sponsor is Minsheng Securities. The first listing ended on December 31, 2020, and the comeback shows the domestic EDA software supplier's confidence in itself and its determination to enter the capital market.

Deep ploughing of the EDA industry to form three major business segments

According to the data, the main business of Core Vision is to rely on the self-developed electronic design automation (EDA) software to carry out integrated circuit analysis services and design services. Since its establishment, the company has formed three major business sectors: integrated circuit analysis, integrated circuit design and EDA software licensing.

In terms of integrated circuit analysis services, the company relies on its own process analysis research laboratory and independent EDA software, takes various IC products as the main analysis object, provides technical services such as process analysis, technical analysis, intellectual property analysis and identification, and has formed a rich library of analytical solutions in the fields of product development, scientific research, and forensic identification. At present, the first process of the analyzed IC products has reached 5 nanometers, the largest scale of a single project has reached 3.5 billion transistors, and the maximum number of metal layers has reached 17 layers; Product process types include CMOS, BiCMOS, Bipolar, BCD, etc.

In terms of integrated circuit design services, the company relies on its own process analysis research laboratory, independent EDA software and IP products to provide IC design outsourcing, IC mass production outsourcing and IP licensing and other design services. Specifically, the company provides layout custom design services, IC reliability reinforcement, ASIC/SoC "one-stop customization" (Turn-Key), IC vulnerability detection and security optimization design, IP licensing and other design services, and has formed many solutions in the fields of microcontrollers, power management, automotive electronics, industrial and automation control, digital signal processing, security monitoring, and the Internet of Things.

In terms of electronic design automation (EDA) software licensing, the company's main business model is to provide comprehensive technical services for IC design enterprises with its own EDA software as the core tool. Since its establishment, the company has positioned the EDA software requirements in the field of IC analysis services and design services, and has gradually formed eight major software product lines and 41 software products; These software products have the core role of core technology leadership/realization, execution efficiency guarantee/improvement, etc., and are the basic technical tools in various types of business development, and can also be directly authorized to be used by customers.

Performance shows a steady growth trend Large customers cover technology giants

According to the prospectus, from 2018 to 2020, the operating income of Core Vision was 114 million yuan, 160 million yuan and 181 million yuan, respectively; The net profit achieved was 0.47 billion yuan, 0.74 billion yuan and 0.83 billion yuan respectively.

It can be seen that the company's performance in the past three years has shown a steady growth trend. In addition, the company's comprehensive gross profit margin remained at about 70% in the same period, which also fully shows that the company's profitability is very strong. As the core tool of EDA software, the initial investment has been expensed in the current period of research and development, and the gross profit margin of the business authorized to customers has reached almost 100%.

For the EDA industry, many people may not understand, in simple terms, just like typing needs to use Word, drawing needs to use PS, EDA software is an important tool for chip design. Due to the more complex chip design process, more refined division of labor, and higher technical content, EDA software does not refer to one or several software alone, but involves nearly a hundred different technologies, covering a variety of "point tools" software tool clusters.

In the technology and capital-intensive IC industry, Chip Vision is always keeping up with the cutting-edge technology in the industry. During the reporting period, the company implemented 188 IC analysis projects of 14 nanometers and below, 60 process making projects of 7 nanometers and below, and related chip process processes and corresponding analytical technologies have reached the industry head level.

The company's continuous breakthroughs in technology have captured the recognition of many "experts" in the industry. Among the top ten semiconductor companies in the world, the proportion of direct or indirect services by companies reaches 60%. China Electronics Technology Group and China Aerospace Science and Technology Group are the top five customers of the company during the reporting period.

The domestic market is vast And the long-term investment value is emerging

As the world's largest and fastest-growing integrated circuit market, the mainland has long been large in imports of chips and relies too much on foreign high-end products. In recent years, the United States has continuously hindered the export of China's high-tech technology, the increasingly serious international trade friction, the increasing importance of IC autonomy localization, and the faster iteration speed of product and technology upgrading; IC manufacturing technology continues to evolve to advanced processes such as 14nm, 7nm, and 5nm, which requires more funds and more talents.

In this regard, industry insiders believe that the EDA industry belongs to the investment cycle is relatively long, and the effect is relatively slow; Algorithm-intensive large-scale software systems that require long-term accumulation of technology; The long R&D cycle and long industrialization cycle require continuous capital investment.

From 2018 to the first half of 2021, the company's R&D expenses accounted for 10.25%, 8.29%, 10.90% and 9.57% of the company's operating income, respectively, and the company will continue to increase R&D investment in the future. The company has taken "building an internationally competitive IC analysis technology and design innovation platform" as its new vision.

According to the disclosure, the company intends to raise 515.3342 million yuan, which will be used for the research and development project of the new generation of integrated circuit intelligent analysis platform, the development and industrialization project of IP core and design platform for Internet of Things chips, the research and development project of design service platform for high-end digital chips, the research and development and industrialization project of EDA design platform for integrated circuit big data, the upgrading and strengthening project of R&D center and the supplementary working capital.

If the core vision is successfully listed, the company will write a pen for the nationalization and development of China's IC industry, and the market application of independent EDA will be smoothly promoted. In the future, with the help of the company's capital market, the battle for the growth of domestic EDA is worth looking forward to.

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