Author丨Shi Enze
Editors丨Sun Chaoyi, Liu Xueying
Image source丨Figure worm
Four days after OPPO announced the termination of its self-developed chip business, Shenzhen ushered in an international semiconductor technology application exhibition with a scale of tens of thousands of people.
However, the scene was not "cold wind", but full of people.
When the reporter of Southern Finance and Economics All Media visited the hall, he found that the perimeter of the 40,000-square-meter exhibition hall was stuffed with vehicles. Employees of more than 600 exhibitors used small trucks to transport display equipment into the venue overnight; Thousands of engineers carrying backpacks walked out of subway stations and into venues in search of "core" opportunities.
While IC manufacturers are affected by the weak demand for downstream consumer electronics, "core" technology and "core" business opportunities are also emerging in the treacherous market fog.
The industry is optimistic about compound semiconductors
Gu Huiyu, director of Nanjing Dinghua Intelligent Products, dressed in a capable black suit, appeared outside the interview room of the international semiconductor exhibition while dragging her suitcase and making a phone call. Dinghua Intelligent is a subsidiary of Dingjie Software, and Dingjie Software (300378.SZ) was listed on the Growth Enterprise Market of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2014.
Gu Huiyu, who has worked in a semiconductor software company for 16 years, has also gone north to find more opportunities since 2016 with the large-scale construction of semiconductor factories in the Yangtze River Delta.
In the past three years, Dinghua Intelligent has developed nearly 80 semiconductor factory customers in China and handled the automatic integration of more than 3,000 devices. Gu Huiyu obviously felt that the development momentum of domestic semiconductors in the past three years was very strong, as if pressing the fast forward button.
"Like semiconductor equipment, domestic leading companies have been prepared for full-link replacement, and the Chinese version of Applied Materials has appeared." She told the Southern Finance All-Media reporter.
As a software service provider, Gu Huiyu recently found in many customer exchanges that semiconductors are having a "core" opportunity for overtaking on the technical route - compound semiconductors.
In the past, semiconductor materials were mainly silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge) materials, but the silicon wafer process technology has been very mature, and the industry generally believes that there is limited room for further progress. However, the compound semiconductor materials represented by gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) are "double males", which can carry higher voltage, higher power, and more high temperature resistance, and are key breakthroughs in the next development of automotive electronics, AI large-scale computing, military communications and other fields.
According to the Southern Finance All-Media reporter, many chip veterans in the industry are targeting entrepreneurial opportunities in compound semiconductors. At present, Shenzhen can immediately raise 30-50 million yuan of start-up capital with only a business plan (BP) on the gallium nitride technology route.
At the same time, the dissolution of traditional silicon wafer design companies such as OPPO has also provided talents for the rise of compound semiconductors.
"Although foreign countries have restricted the spread of some silicon crystal technology, this part of the talent overlaps with the experience required by traditional silicon chip talent, so this part of the talent naturally flows to the compound semiconductor industry." A chip industry HR said.
After OPPO announced the dissolution of Zheku, the HR of domestic semiconductor factories were like sharks smelling blood, and more than 3,000 engineers were divided up in less than 24 hours.
The chip computing power is not enough, plug-ins and substitutes to make up
However, the current high manufacturing cost of compound semiconductor "double heroes", coupled with the recent semiconductor industry is crossing the cycle, the market downturn has trapped the pace of innovation.
A general agent of a chip integrator told the Southern Financial All-Media reporter that the inventory of consumer electronics chips with $100 million in his hand could not be sold. Therefore, there are not many manufacturers who are willing to resolutely move towards the new technology route at this moment.
However, Gu Huiyu, who has experienced three cycles of the semiconductor industry, said that compared with the international financial crisis in 2009, "a new direction has emerged." If the direction is accurately controlled during overtaking, the next story of electric vehicles subverting fuel vehicles is expected to happen again in China. ”
But there is still a long way to go from BP to mass production. How to cope with the existing difficulties under cyclical fluctuations?
The general agent of the above-mentioned chip integrator said that there is currently a compromise in the industry, adding an external plug-in to the chip model that is not subject to export restrictions to meet the problem of insufficient chip computing power or power.
Not only the chip itself has plug-ins, but software companies related to chips are also working hard to develop plug-ins.
Gu Huiyu said that in the industry downturn, Dinghua Intelligent can provide customers with a solution: "If the workshop wants to try to transform the production of compound semiconductors, we can install a set of plug-ins on the existing system to minimize the cost of trial and error." ”
At the same time, the industry is actively looking for high-end chips that can replace NVIDIA, Qualcomm and other manufacturers. The people said they recently purchased a large number of chips from an Israeli chipmaker, Hailo.
As an edge AI chip startup established in 2017, Hailo has a valuation of $1 billion by the end of 2021, becoming a popular fried chicken in the field of AI chips. Hailo chips also have the presence of Chinese-funded institutions. In 2018, led by Chinese venture capital firm Yaotu Capital, Hailo raised a series A round of $21 million. In 2020, Hailo was recognized by the industry represented by Foxconn. Hailo, Foxconn and Socionext have reached a tripartite cooperation in artificial intelligence processing and video analytics.
AI "core" spawns new narratives
This year, when AI enters the ChatGPT moment, it not only brings new hope for the storage and computing integrated chip, but also accelerates the landing of AI in industrial scenarios. The follow-up will also give rise to the demand for AI chips in more scenarios.
Taking the factory quality inspection link as an example, while China's manufacturing is developing towards high-end, the requirements for factory automation production are more urgent. In the past, the uncontrollable factors brought by labor have become the focus of improving quality and efficiency in factories.
Many semiconductor software manufacturers are stepping up research on how to use ChatGPT to improve code quality.
Gu Huiyu said that the company's internal algorithm team is developing AI-based task-based management software, combining management operations and workshop production, and using AI to assist in judging material procurement, warehousing and logistics and other decisions, and improving the overall operation efficiency of the factory.
In addition to vision, it can also be more deeply integrated with AI in terms of hearing.
An algorithm team leader of an MCU chip company said that the company is recently developing MCU chips that can record specific sound entries.
"For example, AI models are used to train algorithms to understand the corresponding instructions behind each semantic, and then solidify the algorithm instructions into the MCU chip in the form of voice modules. The result will be that human voice control completely replaces the remote control in white goods. The above-mentioned person in charge told the Southern Finance All-Media reporter.
However, the story of AI chips is not new to this year, and the industry has alternated hot and cold for many rounds, and even a bit like a "wolf" story.
Many market-sensitive middlemen bluntly say that they "don't buy it" at this stage for the new AI narrative.
"Many AI industrial solution products are not obviously competitive, and the demand for products with high computing power in the target market has not yet risen." One of the middlemen who often communicates with the procurement of large first-line manufacturers commented.
The "core" business opportunities hidden in small household appliances
Since last year, young ladies with avant-garde hair colors, holding high-speed hair dryers that look like Dyson, and elevator advertisements shouting "what wind do you want" have been widely rolled out in buildings.
This contains the "core" business opportunity.
Dyson is a British home appliance company that started with vacuum cleaners. Dyson extended the subtle control of "wind" in temperature and strength to small appliances such as fans and hair dryers, and created the "apple" of the hair dryer industry in one fell swoop, winning the hearts of noblewomen and trendy girls with its high-tech purple appearance and efficient blowing experience.
Compared with high-end hair dryers such as Dyson, some domestic manufacturers also produce "flat" versions of hair dryers, and the price jumps from more than 1,000 yuan to 100 yuan. The reason why it can win at the cost end of the "volume" is that technically, in addition to the domestic technological breakthrough in high-speed motors, there is a more critical inner "core" - the rise of domestic MCU chips.
As the saying goes, a good horse with a good saddle. Behind the high-speed motor needs to be supported by ingenious algorithms. The carrier that condenses the exquisite algorithm is the MCU chip.
These MCU chips, equivalent to neurons, control the speed of the motor in the high-speed hair dryer without fail.
"If there is no good algorithm behind the high-speed motor to match, every time the motor rotates, it is a harm to the life of the hair dryer." And the power of a brand is sometimes reflected in durability. Zhu Yifen, manager of the motor algorithm of the Hangshun chip, said.
SFC
Editor of this issue Liu Xueying
At just 57 years old, the founder of the 200 billion giant died, battling cancer for 20 years
The RMB exchange rate suddenly fell below "7"! What signal?
Asked to "withdraw immediately"! Well-known stores have a large amount of roll paper and cooking oil in the refrigerator...