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To complete the closed loop, Apple's self-developed chip is ambitious

author:China Electronic News
To complete the closed loop, Apple's self-developed chip is ambitious
To complete the closed loop, Apple's self-developed chip is ambitious

Apple, which is addicted to core making, has recently made new moves. Recently, Apple announced that it will expand its silicon design center in the center of Munich, Germany, and expects to invest an additional 1 billion euros (about 7.4 billion yuan) in the next six years.

It is reported that the new investment will be used to create "state-of-the-art research facilities", which can create more open and convenient research and development conditions for Apple's research and development team. Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of hardware technology, said that there are more than 2,000 Apple engineers working at the center, and the scale will be further expanded in the future.

Shoulder the heavy responsibility of building 5G chips

Munich has in fact become one of Apple's most important "overseas bases", and this additional investment is not surprising.

As early as March 2021, Apple announced the construction of a new European semiconductor laboratory in Munich, with an initial investment of 1 billion euros. According to Apple's planning at the time, the Munich semiconductor laboratory covers an area of 30,000 square meters and is located in Karlstrasse in the middle of Munich, which is a scientific and technological center where German and even European semiconductor companies gather.

One of the reasons why Apple chose Munich is because of its rich talent resources. Google, NXP Semiconductors, and ARM had all established R&D centers in Munich at that time, and leading car companies such as Audi and BMW also had bases there. After Apple's arrival, it poached a lot of talent from these giants. In addition to this home base, Apple has seven other "bases" in Munich, and the total number of employees in Germany is estimated to exceed 4,000.

There's a reason Apple takes the Munich semiconductor lab so seriously. From the beginning, the Munich Semiconductor Lab has focused on the research and development of 5G and wireless technology, shouldering the important task of building 5G chips for Apple.

Apple's obsession with 5G baseband chips has never been broken, and getting rid of Qualcomm's constraints and creating a closed-loop fully self-developed chip is also Apple's long-term pursuit.

Apple and Qualcomm have been deeply bound for many years, and the iPhone's baseband chip has long relied on Qualcomm, for which Apple has paid a high patent licensing fee to Qualcomm. In this regard, Apple was unwilling, believing that the patent licensing fee was too high, and sued Qualcomm in the United States and the United Kingdom in 2017, and refused to pay the latter patent licensing fees. After Apple and Qualcomm "broke up", in order to cope with the problem of 5G baseband supply, Apple tried to purchase Intel's baseband chips, but Intel's product performance was not satisfactory, and signal stability and other problems were frequent. As a result, Apple could only reach a settlement with Qualcomm. In 2019, the two sides signed a new patent licensing agreement for 6 years, and Apple continued to pay high fees to Qualcomm.

Since then, Apple has strengthened its determination to develop itself. In July 2019, Apple once again announced the acquisition of Intel's "most" of Intel's mobile phone baseband chip business for $1 billion, and included about 2,200 employees under Intel into Apple, which also means that Apple officially opened the road of baseband chip self-research.

Clear the last obstacle of the closed-loop of fully self-developed chips

Today, Apple has launched MacBooks with M1 Pro and M1 Max processors to get rid of its dependence on Intel. The iPhone has already all enabled A series chips, and even power management chips, screen driver chips, smart watch chips S series, T series security chips, Bluetooth headset main chips, fingerprint recognition chips, etc. are Apple's own products. However, the most able to jam Apple's neck in this link is still the 5G baseband chip monopolized by Qualcomm.

It is reported that the iPhone 14 released by Apple last year is equipped with Qualcomm 5G data machine chip X65 and radio frequency IC, and industry insiders expect that the iPhone 15 released this year is still inseparable from Qualcomm's 5G baseband chip. Tianfeng International Apple analyst Guo Mingxi previously broke the news that Qualcomm will still be the exclusive supplier of the 2023 iPhone 5G baseband chip, providing 100% baseband chips for this model.

That's why the Munich Semiconductor Research Center has high hopes right from the start. It is reported that after the completion of the first phase of the center's project in 2022, Apple will also reorganize the local chip supply chain in Europe, and gradually transfer high-quality talents and R&D equipment scattered throughout Europe to Munich. This time, an additional 1 billion euros will be used to build "state-of-the-art research facilities", which can create more open and convenient research and development conditions for Apple's research and development team.

However, the Munich semiconductor laboratory did live up to Cook's trust and commitment.

Recently, at the 2023 Mobile World Congress (MWC 23), Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said when referring to Apple's self-developed chips that Apple will launch self-developed devices in 2024, but not baseband chips, but 5G modems.

In highly integrated smartphones, modems are integrated with signal processors, channel encoders, digital signal processors and interface modules on a single chip, the baseband. The result of these modules working together makes modern mobile phones equipped with communication capabilities.

"The modem can be called the most important functional module of the baseband chip, so if Apple can solve the technical problems of the modem, it is not far from having its own 5G baseband chip." Wang Xiaolong, research director of Chipmou Consulting, pointed out that as soon as the 5G baseband chip comes out, Apple will also clear the last obstacle to achieving the "closed loop of fully self-developed chips".

Although for a while, Apple has not been able to complete the closed-loop of fully self-developed chips, it is undeniable that Apple's ambitions have been expanding.

Industry insiders expect that after Apple conquers 5G baseband chips, it is still possible to increase the research and development of Wi-Fi and RF chips. At the end of last year, it was reported that Apple was recruiting engineers with RF chips, RFIC (radio frequency integrated circuits) and wireless SoC research and development experience, which was interpreted by the outside world as Apple to develop its own RF chips. In this regard, Wang Xiaolong pointed out that he was not surprised that Apple wanted to develop its own RF chips, but when the baseband chip was not mature, it was still a little early for Apple to prepare RF and Bluetooth chips.

Qian Yongxue, chairman and general manager of Beijing Ongrui Microelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., previously pointed out in an interview with China Electronics News that the RF front-end is an important component of the mobile industry, but its integration is very high, not only to improve the performance of various RF products such as power amplifiers, filters, switches, amplifiers, etc., but also to take into account compatibility, consistency and other issues, which is a huge challenge for new entrants.

The research and development of Wi-Fi chips does not have that much impact on Apple in the eyes of industry insiders. After all, from the perspective of cost, there is a certain gap between Wi-Fi chips and 5G baseband chips, and Apple has been strictly controlling the cost of Wi-Fi chips. In contrast, 5G baseband chips, starting from the iPhone 12 equipped with Qualcomm external baseband chip X55, the cost far exceeds Apple's self-developed A series chips. In Cook's supply chain management philosophy, the highest-margin and core components are best in their own hands, or scattered among sufficiently high-quality suppliers, and try to avoid dependence on a single supplier. Under the trade-off, the strategic significance of 5G baseband chips far exceeds that of Wi-Fi and RF chips, and naturally can get more attention and become the core of Apple's core manufacturing plan.

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Author丨Gu Yue Editor丨Zhu Ling Zhenmei Editor丨Maria Executive Producer丨Zhao Chen

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