Huawei, Apple, and Xiaomi are all using it, and the technology of this decade ago is on fire again

These days, data research agencies publish a somewhat surprising data.

In January, global sales of 5G phones surpassed 4G phones for the first time, with a 51% share.

Narrowly won.

Speaking of which, the first 5G mobile phone in China was launched on August 5, 2019, and overseas should be several months earlier.

By January 2022, 5G mobile phones have been sold for 2 and a half years and nearly three years around the world.

Monthly sales have just surpassed 4G mobile phones... The world seems to be different from what we think.

In fact, in addition to the proportion of 5G mobile phones, there are other facts that also have a certain deviation from what we imagine.

We are often pursuing the process of mobile phone chips, 7nm is backward, 6nm is average, 5nm is passable, and 4nm can be called flagship chips.

The number in front of nm is as small as possible, and TSMC has even begun to do process research and development below 1nm.

Let's not care what these processes can bring us.

Do you have a feeling that the world of electronics seems to be made of 3nm and 5nm.

But yeah.

That's what the machine guy is going to tell you.

This is wrong.

In this way, these how many nm chip process, can be simply divided into two kinds.

One is below 28nm, including 10nm, 7nm, all of which are called advanced processes;

They are the best in the process, only in the hands of a few manufacturers, such as Samsung and TSMC.

And 28nm up, called mature process.

This process is also more famous in the mobile phone chip.

2012 Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 28nm2013, the first octa-core processor MediaTek MT6592 is also 28nm2014, Kirin 910 28nm

It can basically be said that it was a process from 10 years ago.

So, the current advanced process and mature process, you guess which one accounts for more?

According to industry statistics, in the whole of 2019, less than one-third of the processes below 10nm were used.

In 2021, TSMC, the industry's leading, still accounts for 37% of the mature process after 28nm.

Statistical agencies predict that until 2024, the proportion of processes above 28nm will remain at more than 50%.

In 2025, more than 50% of the share will be occupied by processes above 20nm.

And at that time, 28nm will still have a place.

All in all, mature processes above 28nm are the vast majority of the industry.

These 28nm process products are even likely to lie on your phone or on the smart device next to you.

For example, Huami smartwatches.

The Huangshan series of processors, which even caused a sensation before, are the product of the 55nm mature process.

These generations of Huangshan processors are all 55nm mature processes.

It is precisely because of this process that Huami can ensure that there is enough chip supply every year to meet the demand for smart watch chips.

The sensors in the mobile phone are also old customers of mature processes above 28nm.

In March, the SC550xs 50-megapixel stacked sensor made by the domestic manufacturer Xinsiweite is the product of the 22nm process, and such a process is not low in the sensor.

In February this year, Howey (which we often call OV) used a 28nm+22nm process to make the world's smallest 0.56μm sensor.

Blow it off.

It is rumored that the 48-megapixel sensor made by Sony for the iPhone 14 series will also be a 28nm+22nm process.

Not to mention that now, future devices are still using 28nm.

There are also sensor image processing circuits, such as the processing circuit in the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra's Samsung GN2, which also uses a 28nm process.

Android Light is only 28nm.

In addition to sensors, the screen in your mobile phone, the vast majority of its display chips are also based on mature processes of 28nm~40nm.

As long as there is a screen, to display the content through the display chip, all 28nm.

Such an AOE, you have 28nm in your hands.

So, do you still think that "the world of electronic products seems to be made of 3nm and 5nm"?

For display chips alone, the global market size is more than $13 billion.

Smart home chips need not say more, the machine brother to give an example that everyone may not have heard.

There is a Zhuhai company called Quanzhi Technology, which provides IoT chips, power chips and other products for Tmall Genie, Stone Sweeping Robot, Tencent Aurora Box, iFLYTEK e-book, etc.

And these products, all of them are made of mature processes after 28nm.

IoT chips, a lot of them are 28nm.

It is said that 5G is the era of the Internet of Everything, but it is also the era of 28nm.

The 28nm market has seen a surge in the last two years, with TSMC and Japan Semiconductor signing a contract to spend $7 billion to expand the 28nm and 22nm production lines.

So does SMIC.

So is UMC.

These three manufacturers are all giants in the world's top five chip foundries.

The second Samsung, previously announced a new 17nm LPV process, is the fusion of 28nm and 17nm to make, hoping to grab some 28nm share through this.

The top five all decided it would be a piece of fragrant bounty.

Why isn't 28nm obsolete?

Why?

Because everyone still has to use it.

Although the advanced technology is very good, the more advanced the process, the more expensive it is.

Think of the OPPO Mariana X chip mentioned earlier, just a 6nm chip "tape-out" will cost hundreds of millions of yuan.

This so-called tape-out is to give you a batch to see if the program you design can run and whether it can be used.

In case something goes wrong with the chip you produce, you have to re-tape the chip while solving the problem.

Every time the re-streaming, a small target disappears.

The more advanced the process, the higher the price of the tapeout.

In addition, the foundry cost of these advanced processes, it is also multiplied.

And!

The price is still rising.

According to the survey data, in 2022, TSMC's processes below 12nm increased by 8 to 10% compared with 2021.

According to the price of 100 million, it has risen by 8 to 10%, and everyone thinks about how many zeros have risen under this time.

In addition, the resources required to design more advanced chips are also different.

According to data released by IBS in 2020, the design cost of 28nm chips is roughly around $51.3 million, while 7nm chips need 298 million and 5nm needs 542 million US dollars.

Due to the cost of production, those chips in your mobile phone that are not as expensive as soCs can only lower some requirements and choose mature processes.

In the final analysis, the root cause is the problem of input costs.

Making chips is the same as when we buy mobile phones, "In the face of cost problems, enough is enough, what a bicycle."

These advanced processes, like the iPhones that cost thousands of yuan at every turn, are indeed bought by many people.

But around the world, the number of people who use iPhones is ultimately a minority.

The vast majority of the rest of the world are still using Samsung A series and Redmi mobile phones.

Some are not costly enough, and some are demanded.

Like the smart home chips mentioned earlier, smart watch chips, their energy consumption and performance require the process, is these 28nm up the mature process.

Looking back, these processes, which have been mature for more than a decade, are the most popular and enduring.

And often 4nm, 5nm chips, the possibility of overturning is even higher.

You say, don't you?