Huawei’s P50 series was just released last week. A P50 Pro equipped with Kirin 9000’s top flagship 5G chip can only be used as a 4G mobile phone. Everyone saw the helplessness behind Yu Chengdong’s wry smile at the press conference.
Some people say that the reason why the P50 series is “forced” to 4G is because the 5G radio frequency chip is stuck.
Huawei’s leadership in 5G technology has made people look at China’s communications technology with admiration, but today the United States is firmly stuck in chip supply, making Huawei’s 5G mobile phone business “breath difficult.”
Whether it is a mobile phone or a computer, baseband chips and radio frequency chips are indispensable for communication. Although Huawei has done the baseband chips, we basically rely on imports for the seemingly humble category of radio frequency chips, especially 5G radio frequency chips.
Recently, an industry insider who “has breakfast with Apple engineers in the morning and tea with Intel employees in the afternoon” once revealed that China’s RF chip industry may be about to usher in a wave of “take off”.
From the domestic head RF chip player Zhuo Shengwei to the mid-range RF PA chip giant Weijie Chuangxin, to National Feixiang, Huizhiwei, and Han Tianxia, many Chinese RF companies are operating in OPPO, Honor, Xiaomi and other companies. There are actions in the new machine.
It is regrettable that the Huawei P50 has been stuck in the neck, but this may be a good opportunity for the domestic RF chip to start.
As Huawei and more domestic mobile phone manufacturers increase their support for domestic radio frequency chips, can China’s radio frequency chip industry take advantage of the rapid rise of China’s 5G smartphone popularization, from the radio frequency market that has been plundered by US and Japanese giants over 80%. Food”? It has undoubtedly become another focus of attention in the field of Chinese chips.
RF vendors that “love and kill” with 5G
In fact, everyone’s attention to RF chips is inseparable from the rapid development of 5G. Since the commercialization of 5G in various countries in 2019, the large-scale popularization of 5G smartphones is undoubtedly the most perceptible point for ordinary people.
The arrival of 5G smart phones has also ushered in an explosion of demand in the RF chip market .
In the 2G era, there are only 4 frequency bands that a general mobile phone needs to support, and the total value of the radio frequency chip on a mobile phone is only about 0.8 US dollars. In the 4G era, the number of frequency bands supported by mobile phones increased to a maximum of about 30, and the total value of the radio frequency chip of a single mobile phone was also close to US$20.
In the 5G era, a mobile phone needs to support up to 50 frequency bands, and the value of a single radio frequency chip involved is up to about 40 US dollars. You must know that the cost of an Apple A14 chip is only 40 US dollars. It can be seen that 5G’s leading role in the demand for radio frequency chips is very obvious.
▲ Various RF chips on the motherboard of Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max, yellow is Qualcomm X55 baseband and other RF system modules, light blue is Avago’s RF PA chip, dark blue is Murata Electronics’ RF front-end module chip, picture Source: iFixit
Why does the mobile phone support more frequency bands, the higher the demand for RF chips? This is closely related to the function of the radio frequency chip.
In fact, the radio frequency chip, in simple terms, is a device responsible for receiving and sending signals. It works in conjunction with the baseband chip. The radio frequency chip receives the signal and passes it to the baseband chip. The baseband chip completes the signal conversion. In the end, countless radio signals are It becomes a message, a voice or a picture on your phone screen.
▲ Schematic diagram of the general communication process when the mobile phone sends (above) and receives (below) information, picture source: Skyworks
There are countless radio waves across the sky at every moment. How to accurately find the one that belongs to you, capture, amplify, and make this signal clear, so that the baseband chip “hears more clearly”, this is the radio frequency chip Things to do.
Therefore, in the 5G era, mobile phones must have the ability to receive signals in more than 50 frequency bands , and naturally they need more radio frequency chips to support them.
Specifically, radio frequency chips are mainly divided into four categories: antenna switch (RF Switch), filter (Filter), low noise amplifier (LNA) and power amplifier (PA).
▲ The main types of RF chips
The switch, as the name implies, is responsible for controlling whether the antenna receives or transmits signals, while the latter RF chips are responsible for retaining the signals you need and “amplifying” them.
It is understood that in the 5G era, more than 80 filters are needed in a mobile phone, and the number of switches is as many as 15. In contrast, 4G mobile phones only need a maximum of 40 filters, which directly doubles the demand. .
It is precisely because of the explosion of market demand that more RF chip manufacturers see opportunities, but on the other hand, the demand has increased, and terminal manufacturers have higher requirements for the RF chip products themselves.
In the 5G era, because RF chips need to cover more frequency bands, the performance parameters they need to meet have also increased. On the other hand, the increase in the number of RF chips is in contradiction with the demand for thinner, thinner, and low-cost smart phones. The “integration level” of radio frequency chips is even higher .
And this integration requirement has prompted the development of ” modularization ” of radio frequency chip products .
▲ The evolution trend of mobile phone RF chip packaging technology, picture source: Yole Development
Whether it is modular packaging requirements or more stringent process performance parameters, it has become a challenge faced by RF chip manufacturers, and this vast new market is an opportunity for them. All manufacturers are taking action, and Chinese local manufacturers are actively looking for their own breakthroughs at this moment.
What is the difficulty of the radio frequency chip controlled by the Japanese and American giants?
The reason why the progress of Chinese RF chip manufacturers has attracted so much attention from the industry is mainly because the gap between us and overseas giants is still very large.
It can be said that as long as the devices that can communicate, they cannot do without radio frequency chips. Whether it is mobile phones, computers, or various IoT smart home appliances, it is such a vast market, which is basically firmly controlled by Japanese and American companies .
In the RF chip market, TOP5 manufacturers accounted for more than 80% of the market. Among the five companies, Murata Electronics (Murata) ranks first, and the remaining second to fifth are American companies.
▲ Data source: China Sea Securities
These American companies are also very familiar to everyone. From second to fifth place are Skyworks, Broadcom, Qorvo and Qualcomm.
Japan’s Murata Electronics, ranked number one, is the undoubted first giant in the field of radio frequency chips. The filters are mainly divided into SAW filters and BAW filters. SAW filters are more popular and have a higher proportion, and BAW filters are more high-end. In the SAW filter market, Murata Electronics alone occupies 47% of the market, nearly half of the market.
Sijiaxun, Broadcom and Qorvo have achieved almost full industrial chain coverage in the field of radio frequency chips. The product categories are very complete and the products are highly modular, so they are more suitable for the needs of the current 5G market.
Behind the brilliance of these giants, what made them come to today’s market position? In general, the core technologies in the field of RF chips are mainly concentrated on chip design, chip technology and materials , and the gap between Chinese RF companies and giants is also reflected in these three aspects.
The RF chip is very different from the well-known CPU and GPU at the chip design level, because the problem to be solved by the RF chip is actually not a fixed or very definite one. It is conceivable that looking for the signal you need among countless signals, each time you face a different situation.
Therefore, the problem to be solved by the RF chip is “dynamic”, which requires the chip design to find a relative balance in the compromise of various physical indicators, and this balance often depends on the actual application requirements of the product, such as The RF chip requirements for mobile phones and automobiles are completely different.
This leads to the need for designers to have a wealth of experience in radio frequency chips . In the jargon of the design field, the “Know-How” of engineers is the top priority.
This is not a problem for these veteran American and Japanese giants, because in these companies, many star engineers have been in the industry for more than ten years or even decades.
Murata Electronics, ranked first, was established in 1950, while SkyInfo, ranked second, was established in 1962. It can be said that the semiconductor industry has not yet formed a scale. When semiconductor technology was still in the cradle, these companies It’s already a step in the semiconductor industry.
In addition to having sufficient time to train talents, the giants also have the ability to acquire and merge through early capital accumulation, and once new technological trends appear in the RF industry, they will “turn around” or make timely adjustments difficult. , They can quickly realize the expansion of technology and product territory through acquisitions.
Murata Electronics acquired Peregrine, a North American semiconductor manufacturer, for US$470 million in 2014. Through this acquisition, Murata Electronics quickly acquired advanced RF-SOI process technology in the field of radio frequency chips.
Skyscanner is more radical. From 2007 to 2021, it completed four acquisitions or cooperations in the RF field. It successively acquired Freescale’s PA business, SiGe Semiconductor and Silicon Labs’ infrastructure and automotive businesses. Panasonic established a joint venture to deploy SAW filter business.
▲ Schematic diagram of Skyworks 5G RF chip module product
Although Qorvo, ranked fourth, is a relatively young company founded in 2015, it was formed by the merger of TriQuint Semiconductor and RF Micro Devices (RFMD) in the United States.
TriQuint Semiconductor was the world’s largest commercial GaAs wafer foundry supplier at the time, and GaAs is a very important material in radio frequency chips. RFMD is also known as the “Radio Frequency PA Chip Whampoa Military Academy”, and its position in the radio frequency chip industry is evident.
Based on this background of qualifications, these veteran US and Japanese RF giants can be said to have accumulated a large number of talents, technology, and patent resources, and a large number of technical patent barriers have become the threshold to block latecomers.
In addition to chip design, the US and Japan RF giants also have obvious advantages in terms of RF chip technology and materials. The materials used in RF chips are quite special. High-end materials such as gallium nitride (GaN), gallium arsenide (GaAs), and silicon germanium (SiGe) are very common, and the wafer processing technology designed for these materials is also more Specialties and subdivisions.
▲ Skyworks’ RF chip production line
For example, SOI technology has a market share of 92% in the RF switch market, but it is rarely used in other fields. CMOS technology can integrate components such as RF, baseband and memory into one, and is more in line with the 5G era. The trend of RF chip modularization.
For radio frequency chips, the two most critical indicators are noise figure and linearity . These two core indicators are almost completely related to the chip process. The quality of the process determines the performance of the chip.
Moreover, there are still many uncertainties in these chip processes in the field of radio frequency chips, which are different from the “silicon” wafer foundry in our traditional perception. Perhaps the inductance brought by a small package lead will have a significant impact on the RF chip.
At present, the top four US and Japanese giants in the field of radio frequency chips all adopt the IDM business model , which means that everything from chip R&D and design to chip manufacturing is in their own hands.
In this mode, these giants have more firm control over chip technology and production processes, and even the production line equipment for advanced production processes is individually customized, which increases the threshold and barriers of their technology.
▲ Skyworks’ RF chip production line
Localized replacement of RF chips is on the way
After clarifying the gap, looking back to the domestic market, Chinese RF chip companies have gradually begun to usher in their own bright moments after a decade or so of precipitation. For these domestic players, there are many positive factors that have become a good foundation for them to challenge the giants, from technology to market, from talent to capital.
Most of the leading RF chip companies in China started their efforts around 2010. That was the initial stage when smartphones were gradually replacing feature phones. Later, the transition from 3G to 4G also created more RF chip demand, which allowed The market can feed more players.
The market is now one of the core advantages of domestic RF chip players. At present, in the entire RF chip market, the mobile phone and communication module markets account for more than 80%, WiFi routers and communication base stations each account for about 9%, and the rest is the NB-IoT market.
In other words, mobile phones and communications are the most important markets for RF chips, and China’s 5G smartphone market is far ahead of other global markets in terms of scale and development speed. The construction speed of 5G base stations is more usable than other countries. “Yiqi Juechen” to describe.
▲ From January 2020 to June 2021, mobile phone shipments in the domestic market
According to the first quarter data of the three major domestic operators, the number of connected users of 5G mobile phones has exceeded 310 million. As of March this year, the number of 5G base stations in China accounted for more than 70% of the total number of 5G base stations in the world. China has undoubtedly become the world’s largest RF chip market.
And with the current semiconductor capacity shortage sweeping the entire technology industry, all manufacturers hope to strengthen the control of the supply chain, especially localized supply has become the general trend of the technology industry. This is true whether it is Apple, Intel or mainland manufacturers.
Under this trend, Chinese radio frequency companies also have more opportunities to get more cakes from the Chinese radio frequency chip market.
From the perspective of chip technology and material technology, the pace of domestic manufacturers to catch up is also accelerating . For example, in the field of radio frequency switches, Zhuo Shengwei’s products can reach the level of the giants. It is understood that they have obtained 63 patents in the fields of radio frequency switches, low noise amplifiers, filters, WiFi and Bluetooth.
Around 2011, Zhuo Sheng Micro shifted its business focus to the field of RF chips. In the era of 3G to 4G conversion, they occupied this market segment through RF switches and low noise amplifier products and made their name.
After nearly ten years of accumulation, at the end of 2020, Zhuo Shengwei invested 800 million yuan in the construction of a semiconductor industrialized production base in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, and this production base is understood to be used for the construction of filter production and RF module packaging and testing production lines . In other words, Zhuo Shengwei will gradually build its own IDM business model.
At present, mainstream smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, vivo, and OPPO have used Zhuo Shengwei’s radio frequency chips in their products. Of course, these RF chips are mainly used in mobile phones equipped with MediaTek SoC, because Qualcomm’s RF chips are usually packaged and sold with SoC.
It is worth mentioning that, according to the data of Zhuoshengwei’s 2020 financial report, its 2020 revenue is about 2.8 billion yuan, an increase of nearly 85% year-on-year, while the net profit exceeds 1 billion yuan, and the net profit margin is about 38.4%. The gross profit margin has remained above 50% for six consecutive years.
In contrast, Japanese giant Murata Electronics, which ranks first in the market share of radio frequency chips, has revenue of approximately RMB 90 billion in 2020 and a net interest rate of approximately 12%. RMB 21.4 billion, with a net profit margin of approximately 24%.
It can be seen that although the gap between Chinese and foreign companies is still relatively large in terms of revenue scale, we have even achieved a surpass in terms of profitability, which shows that its business is maintaining a healthy development and capital will also accumulate. Become the “ammunition” for subsequent development and expansion.
In addition to Zhuoshengwei, Vanchip, as one of the leading companies in the RF PA chip market, currently occupies more than 30% of the global 4G low-end PA market. It is worth mentioning that the founder of VJC is from the Whampoa Military Academy in the PA chip circle, and the RFMD mentioned above.
In the field of radio frequency filters, the mainland company Han Tianxia became one of the first companies in China to fully master the mass production technology of BAW filters, and BAW filters are also high-end products with more complex processes. However, Han Tianxia’s current mass-produced products are mostly low-priced products, with few major customers and limited shipment scale.
In addition to these outstanding companies, companies such as Zhanrui, Airotech, and Weir shares are also gradually opening up their own markets in the field of radio frequency chips.
As the current domestic RF chip manufacturers adopt the Fabless model , the domestic chip foundry process is particularly critical . At present, Xiamen Sanan Integration has mastered the gallium arsenide process, while SOI, CMOS and other processes, SMIC has been able to However, the most cutting-edge silicon germanium process is still relatively blank in China.
Judging from the rise of domestic RF chip companies, we are gradually accumulating technologies, talents or capital, and slowly catching up. Although the gap is still real, these companies have undoubtedly taken their respective steps firmly. .
According to Yole Development’s forecast, the global RF chip market may reach US$25.4 billion in 2025, while this figure is only US$15.2 billion in 2019. It can be seen that the arrival of 5G has indeed injected a shot of catalyst into the RF chip market.
Conclusion: In addition to SoC, more chip tracks are full of opportunities
It can be seen that although the types of chips are different, in the chip industry, the difficulties faced by Chinese companies are quite similar, focusing on design, technology, and materials. These key links are stuck and require the investment of time, capital, and manpower to resolve them.
With the ban on Huawei, attention to self-developed chips has increased, but the focus is more on SoC chips. However, in addition to SoC chips, such as power management chips, radio frequency chips and other subdivision tracks, Chinese companies are becoming more and more involved. More and more.
Grasping the Chinese market and the rise of 5G, although full of challenges, is more of an opportunity for Chinese chip companies.
For more such interesting article like this, app/softwares, games, Gadget Reviews, comparisons, troubleshooting guides, listicles, and tips & tricks related to Windows, Android, iOS, and macOS, follow us on Google News, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest.