At the end of 2021, JW insights launched the "Top 100 Chinese Semiconductor Enterprises" list (hereinafter referred to as the "JW insights) Top 100 List"). In this list, there are 33 companies with analog integrated circuits as the whole product line, accounting for one-third, if the division is broader, including hybrid circuits, sensors and system-on-chip SoCs, then the number of companies increased to 59, it is worth noting that except for Wingtech Technology and Silan Micro, all other companies are design companies (fabless).
The 33 companies that focus on analog chips will have a total revenue of more than 37 billion yuan in 2020, accounting for less than 15% of the total revenue of the top 100 list (2020). In the field of analog integrated circuits, power management is the most widely used. Wingtech Technology, Silan Micro, Silicon Lijie, Jingfeng Mingyuan, Aiwei Electronics, Angbao Electronics, Shengbang Microelectronics, Fuman Microelectronics, Ming Microelectronics, Shanghai Belling, Si Ruipu, Nanxin, Xinpeng Micro, Lixin Micro, Xidi Micro and other enterprises have a wide layout in the field of power management.
This paper focuses on the fast charging track of consumer electronics in the field of power management, selects five companies, and makes a side observation of the development picture of mainland analog chip manufacturers.
The problem awareness is mainly based on two points, the first is the "basic" platform significance of consumer electronics fast charging. Power management chips mainly include separate power conversion and power distribution or combination of the two, etc., application scenarios cover traditional consumer electronics, industrial control, communication equipment and emerging electric vehicles, Internet of Things equipment, but in summary, the product line covers mobile phone fast charging analog integrated circuit design companies, basically in the EV, industrial or smart home industry have a different degree of layout, these companies many to fast charging as a breakthrough link in power management, to point with the surface, the momentum is like a bamboo, Gradually gained a foothold in the market and had a group of more stable and loyal downstream customers. Secondly, mobile phone fast charging is often also a pioneer product echelon in the tide of domestic substitution of power management chips, relying on a number of mobile phone brands with wide influence in the world, in the technical vertical and brand horizontal two dimensions, can ensure that there is still a large room for expansion in the three markets of high and low.
The question of "how big is the mobile phone fast charging market" can often be replaced by "how much smartphone shipments are made". Although the tide of global core shortage in 2021 is fierce, and the overall mobile phone shipments are rising year-on-year, the data of major analyst agencies at home and abroad show that last year's global smartphone shipments exceeded 1.3 billion units, supplemented by tablet computers and laptops, these three major segments of the electronic consumer market can support at least 1.7 billion fast-charging terminal basic disks. After all, the increase in the number and complexity of 5G mobile phone RF devices, as well as the demand for high brushing and area proportion of mobile phone screens, has led to an increase in power consumption per unit time of smart phones, and terminal manufacturers continue to optimize battery capacity on the one hand, and on the other hand, fast charging technology is moving towards higher process performance. According to the data released by BCC Research, the global fast charging market will exceed 2.5 billion US dollars in 2022, and the current electric vehicle OBC fast charging is still in the initial stage of volume release, and it is foreseeable that in the short term in the future, consumer electronics, especially mobile phone fast charging, is still the main position of the fast charging market.
It is worth mentioning that an overview of the history of mobile phone fast charging in recent years will find that the driving role of iPhone mobile phones cannot be ignored. Apple since the first launch of the iPhone 8 series of mobile phones in 2017, has released a total of more than 14 models that support fast charging, fast charging PD charger compared to the traditional 5V1A has brought a transformative leapfrog experience; in October 2020, Apple officially announced that it will no longer be sold as standard chargers, and then for a period of time the charger market gap led to tight supply-side, driving another wave of rapid growth of upstream PD fast charging.
Silicon Jie, after the "high-end fast charging" era to force a new anchor
Founded in 2008, Silicon Jie is the earliest semiconductor design company in China to lay out mobile phone fast charging, ranking 18 on the top 100 list of JW insights, with revenue of 3.252 billion yuan in 2020 and is expected to reach 5 billion yuan in 2022.
Since 2017, the demand for fast charging products in the smartphone market has continued to increase, which has also made the fast charging industry enter an explosive stage, and the charging rate of mobile phones and charging manufacturers that have been running wild on the charging rate track has evolved from 20W all the way to 200W. Silicon Jie has launched SY6512, SY6537C charge pump chip and SY6974B single-section path management charging chip with good market feedback; in addition, it has also launched a highly integrated wireless charging receiver chip NE6153/SY65153.
With the increasing saturation of the fast charging market, flagship fast charging technology extends to the low-end mobile phone market, the current 22.5W-33W fast charging is no longer the standard of the high-end mobile phone market, the charging anxiety of mobile phone users in the past few years has been greatly released.
When high power is no longer the only power point of fast charging, Silicon Jie on the one hand to solve the user's pain points in the direction of wireless charging development, on the other hand is also involved in the rule making, and strive to "athlete and referee" two roles. In May last year, Silicon Jie participated in the formulation of the Telecom Terminal Industry Association's release of the fusion fast charging standard "Mobile Terminal Fusion Fast Charging Technical Specification" to promote the interoperability of various manufacturers in the fast charging technology agreement.
Shengbang Microelectronics: Fast charging, not just embellishment
In the top 100 list of JW insights, Shengbang Microelectronics ranked 32nd, and its revenue in 2021 is estimated at 22.3 yuan.
Among the domestic analog integrated circuit companies, Shengbang is one of the few enterprises that can relatively balance its power in the two main analog categories of signal chain and power management. Shengbang microelectronics in 2020 total revenue of 1.197 billion yuan, power management chips accounted for nearly 70%, signal chain analog chips accounted for about 30%, through the collection of micro consulting (JW insights) query, the company seven years ago the power management chip revenue proportion of the signal chain, benefiting from smart phones, smart speakers, TWS headphones and other consumer electronics products in these years of vigorous development, after the former's proportion continues to increase (an increase of about 25 percentage points).
Unlike the core friend micro-emphasis on AC/DC charger, Shengbang Micro mainly develops fast charging technology in mobile phones. The main function of the mobile phone inner block is to send the energy from the charging head, carry out high-efficiency conversion, charge in a way that the battery cell can accept, and also complete a series of detection and protection functions, which is a very core link in the entire mobile phone link, with linear charging on the smart phone has been completely withdrawn, switch charging is currently one of the mainstream fast charging in smart phones.
In recent years, the popularity of USB Type-C interface has brought revolutionary changes to mobile phone fast charging, the charging capacity of various high-power switching types and switched capacitor charging management chips has increased rapidly, and the power of mobile phone adapters has also developed from 5W, 10W, 18W to today's 30W, 40W, 65W and even 120W.
In order to adapt to the development of mobile phone adapter low price and high configuration and low voltage and high current trend, Shengbang Micro launched a 5A lithium battery charge management chip SGM41509, which has a lower power loss under the same charging current, with automatic impedance compensation function and charging timeout protection function at charge cut-off, 41509 series Currently has four products for customers to order, specifications ranging from 5V/5A to 20V/3A; in addition, in the USB PD power supply standard issue, for USB PD's high power delivery and the safety challenges of compactness issues, Shengbang Microelectronics also introduced the 5A unidirectional USB PD high-side switch chip SGM2539.
In the field of fast charging in mobile phones, shengbang micro benchmark overseas manufacturers are mainly TI, Qualcomm and MPS, etc., the company and the core peng micro face the same problem - with the mobile phone fast charging market more refined, more fierce and vicious fighting, the gross profit margin continues to decrease. However, after nearly 13 years of development of the company, Shengbangwei has formed a relatively stable downstream customer base and mature distribution model.
Nanxin Semiconductor: With charge pump as the core technology, it provides a complete solution for mobile phone fast charging
In the JW insights top 100 list, Nanxin Semiconductor ranked 65th, with an estimated revenue of 850 million yuan in 2021. Mobile phone fast charging as a system engineering, there are a long link, including charging head, interface, charging line, fast charging chip, battery connectors, battery cells and other power paths, each part of the power link must achieve high efficiency, high power, Nanxin Semiconductor focuses on power and battery management related products, is one of the few companies in China that can provide end-to-end solutions for fast charging.
In 2020, on the basis of AC/DC charger and fast charging in mobile phones, Nanxin launched the original and secondary AC-DC control ICs, with Nanxin's self-developed fast charging protocol chip, becoming the first local company that can fully provide high-performance fast charging solutions from AC-DC to batteries.
At present, the only solution for fast charging of high-end mobile phones is charge pump charging, that is, high-voltage charging. Nanxin Semiconductor's SC8551 is the first charge pump charge pump charger chip produced by China, and it is also the most domestically shipped product of its kind. In addition, Nanxin Semiconductor has also launched SC8571, SC8982, SC8501 three fast charging for more than 100w.
Nanxin Semiconductor has realized that the shipment volume and unit price market fluctuations of consumer electronic products such as mobile phones will affect the financial situation of enterprises, and said that the basic merchants who are increasing research and development will increase their corporate management efforts and anti-risk capabilities. Charge pump system architecture fast charging scheme has few domestic competitors, occupying the tide, which can greatly promote the research and development of power management in the automotive and industrial fields.
At the end of last year, Nanxin Semiconductor issued shares for the first time and filed a consultation report on the listing of the Science and Technology Innovation Board, officially starting the journey of listing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.
In the face of killing into the Red Sea mobile phone fast charge, the micro-manipulation of the core friend micro
On the top 100 list of JW insights, Xinpeng micro ranked 72nd, with revenue of 429 million yuan in 2020 and revenue of 753 million yuan in 2021.
Since its establishment in 2005, Chippenwei has been using a more typical iteration route of the fabless technology platform, that is, relying on a development platform to cover multiple power management application scenarios. The company's revenue segment is divided into household appliances, standard power supplies, mobile digital and industrial drive categories, in recent years, its home appliance revenue has accounted for more than 40%, is the largest type of revenue, and the gross profit margin has been maintained at more than 45%.
In October 2020, Xinpengwei launched the second generation of PD fast charging solution PN8162+PN8307 for the market, compared with the previous generation, on the basis of maintaining performance cost and high integration advantages, it also effectively reduced the thermal resistance of the chip through a dedicated package, and at the same time, for the small volume charger EMC problem, the QR control technology was used to reduce the chip switching power consumption.
Nevertheless, JW insights found that the gross profit margin of digital revenue of Xinpengwei's fast charging as the main route hovered at the edge of 30%, significantly lower than the company's average gross profit margin of about 40%, which is likely to be one of the main motivations for the company to make strategic adjustments in 2020, that is, to merge digital chips into the "other chips" category.
However, the core peng micro has a higher than the industry average R & D / revenue ratio (the past three years average of about 15.5%), as well as a wide range of power management intellectual property layout, JW insights believes that at least in the future, with the completion of 18-40W PD fast charge sleeve and a new round of industry high-end customer supplier certification process, the research and development pace of the core peng micro in the fast charging head primary control chip, secondary control chip will not slow down.
Can the relatively weak Xidi Micro borrow the power of the IPO?
On this list by JW insights, Xidi micro ranked 89th, with revenue of 228 million yuan in 2020 and expected revenue of 450 million yuan in 2021.
The main business of Xidi Micro also covers DC/DC chips, super fast charge chips, lithium battery fast charge chips, port protection and signal switching chips, etc., and focuses on fast charging in mobile phones in the whole link of the mobile phone fast charging scheme and Nanxin and Shengbang Microelectronics. The first mass-produced charge pump of domestic semiconductors is a 4:2 charge pump chip from Xidi Micro for simple voltage conversion. As early as 2014, Xidi Micro has launched a series of lithium battery fast charging chip solutions, the most typical of which is the HL7005 1.5A fast charging chip, which integrates a synchronous PWM controller and adopts WLCSP package. On January 21, XidiWei was successfully listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
JW insights (JW insights) after combing found that in the period from 2018 to 2020, Xidi micro revenue into the fast lane, but the pace is not steady, in the product sequence planning and downstream customer expansion exposed some problems, such as the period of time the company is in a state of continuous growth, but the company's DC / DC chips, charging management chips, port protection and signal switching chips Three categories of products There are obvious fluctuations, super fast charging chips are performance for sales increase / revenue decline Secondly, its top 5 customer list has changed greatly every year, especially the previous major customer Huawei has been affected by US sanctions in recent years, and the market share of terminal consumer electronics has declined rapidly last year; third, the gross profit margin level has been in the leading position in the industry, xidiwei, whose net profit has been negative for 3 consecutive years, Xidiwei said in the IPO prospectus that it cannot guarantee profitability in the next few years, and may face the risk of delisting after listing Therefore, the company's ability to continue to operate and profitability need to be further observed.
epilogue
JW insights (JW insights) through the top 100 list of some of the mobile phone fast charging chip company business line combing, we can see that the average history of this group of enterprises in about 11 years, turnover and R & D investment is still in the upper stage, the overall and benchmarking of overseas simulation of the big factory gap is still very large, but in the entire mobile phone fast charging chip chain in the localization substitution rate can be regarded as a breakthrough, the formation of DC / DC, automotive OBC, automotive MOSFETs and other fields of broken window effect.
Some of the public financial data of the above-mentioned enterprises show that their management expense ratio is decreasing year by year, which also shows that the downstream customer base of mobile phone fast charging enterprises has shown a solid increase to the transformation of stock, and the upstream and downstream anchoring of the industrial chain tends to be mature and systematic.
In addition to companies such as Nanxin that have a complete solution for mobile phone fast charging, the gross profit margin of mobile phones of other companies has been bottlenecked to varying degrees, which is related to the transformation of the market from the blue ocean to the deep red sea.
Different from overseas manufacturers, the vast majority of domestic analog manufacturers are still mainly livingss, through the chip design platform to achieve technical iterative evolution, and fab and packaging and testing plant cooperation has become an important part of the capacity guarantee, under the tide of lack of core, capacity negotiation ability and bargaining power is also a noteworthy factor for the further development of this group of enterprises. (Proofreading/Sami)