1. Wireless charging market will usher in a price war, MCU replace SoC or growth tail effect;
After the iPhone 8/X was equipped with a wireless charging function, the wireless charging market began to burst and continued to heat up. This brought a huge market dividend to domestic wireless charging companies. Among them, the wireless charger on the transmitting side started to increase quickly. Over 10 times. However, with Apple's wireless charger AirPower coming soon, Xiaomi, Huawei will also release a new machine with wireless charging capabilities, the entire wireless charging market will usher in yet another round of outbreaks. However, in the new one In the wave of outbreaks, the price wars triggered by MCU and SoC solutions also followed.
AirPower launches soon, a new round of outbreaks opens up the price war
Recently, the latest news from the industry said that Apple's original wireless charger AirPower will be officially launched at the end of the month, priced at 199 US dollars. However, Apple wireless charging support WPC's Qi standard, and domestic manufacturers based on Qi standard certification of wireless charging The device also supports iPhone 8/X wireless charging, and the price is cheaper.
Is there any market for Apple AirPower? Mr. Jin Guangyi, Marketing Director of Kyi Yi Innovation Products, said in an interview with JIEI. Airpower’s currently disclosed technical advantages include high power (29W), support for one-to-many charging, and complete Qi standard. Protocols, etc. Apple's complete set of wireless charging solutions can be matched to transmit and receive in terms of solution design and performance optimization to achieve the ideal wireless charging effect.
Lu Huihong, chairman of Shanghai Xinjie, said in an interview that after the listing of Airpower, it is believed that many domestic companies will start to make similar products. Even some domestic companies will creatively make similar products with lower cost but limited functionality. Of course, it is also possible to make products that are compatible with Airpower and have some enhanced features. Among them, AirPower support for one-to-many wireless charging is becoming a difficult point for domestic wireless charging companies to overcome.
Therefore, the advantages of Airpower are still very obvious. At present, the mid-range and high-end wireless chargers on the domestic market are still hard to rival. Jin Guangyi believes that after the listing of Airpower, this will inevitably further stimulate the demand and development of mid-to-high end wireless chargers. The low-cost market is limited by the technical threshold and will be deeply stuck in the 'price war'.
In fact, after the mass production, how to make the cost even lower, playing a 'price war' is a unique 'advantage' in the domestic market. After the iPhone 8/X was released last year, the first wave of bonuses in the wireless charging market has been After being divided up by domestic manufacturers, the high-priced wireless charging solution supporting iPhone 8/X is not favored by the market. Especially after the domestic market for wireless charging such as Xiaomi, Huawei, etc., the price war for wireless chargers on the transmitter side will be difficult to avoid. Said that from the market point of view, wireless charging transmitters, that is, wireless chargers have begun to steadily, and many domestic mobile phone manufacturers will also release mobile phone products that support wireless charging functions. However, a large number of wireless chargers are concentrated in low-end low-cost In the low-tech threshold, the rapid launch and capture of the market. The mid-to-high-end market supporting full wireless standard protocols, fast charging, high power, and one-machine multi-charge has yet to be explored. Therefore, low-end low-cost products There will be greater price pressure, and high-end products still have a lot of room for development.
Comparing the two solutions, the shipment of Mega MCU exceeds 150 million units
In fact, whether it is low-end or mid-to-high-end wireless chargers, the core cost is based on the evolution of the solution. At present, the transmitter is mainly divided into MCU and dedicated SoC.
'On the transmitter side, that is, the wireless charger solution, the current mainstream solution is still a MCU-controlled discrete solution. The low-end low-cost solution uses 8-bit machines, and the high-end market uses 32-bit machines.' Jin Guangyi said there are also some ICs. Manufacturers integrate MCU cores and analog peripheral peripherals, power devices into SoCs, the form of dedicated chips.
Currently, the discrete program is the most flexible and the cost can be optimized. It is the first choice for the current market price war. Compared with the cost of a dedicated chip, the discrete solution needs further optimization.
In addition, due to the charging protocol, charging power, fixed-frequency conversion, and different architectures and industry certifications, etc., it still needs to be improved. Therefore, the dedicated chip solution has yet to be evolved. However, in the long-term, the two solutions will coexist, and the market demand for short-term MCU solutions will be even greater. After all, in addition to the wireless charging function itself, other additional functions and selling points also require the control of the MCU, while the discrete program will be more convenient for the function increase and program expansion.
It is reported that many wireless charging companies in China have adopted mega-easy innovation MCUs. The GD32 series has become a major choice for domestic manufacturers. The GD32 series MCUs provide a product solution for the design of wireless charging transmitters. Its GD32F130/ 330 series value-added MCUs provide on-chip memory resources with up to 84MHz of processing frequency and 64K Flash/8K RAM in the Cortex-M4 core. Up to 7 general-purpose timers, high-performance ADCs and various interface peripherals can handle the operation. Full wireless protocol stack resource overhead, and support for the development of additional features. QFN28 miniaturized package chip size is only 4x4mm, can maximize the flexibility in a limited layout space, and can continue to be the best cost-effective Respond to high-end wireless charging needs.
Jin Guangyi said that the current selection of GD32 MCUs in the design of a large number of wireless charging solutions has become the mainstream choice. With the pulling of Airpower and gradual improvement of industry standards, the shipment volume will also continue to grow. At present, shipments have exceeded 150 million tablets.
Increased market competition, MCU or current mainstream choice
With the rapid development of the wireless charging market, the demand for MCUs will increase rapidly. The GD32 MCUs for mega-innovation are adopted by most domestic wireless charging companies and shipped in large quantities. In addition to market demand factors, the international manufacturers ST And NXP is also indirectly promoting.
Since last year, ST's MCUs have been gradually out of stock and the delivery period has been extended. The industry pointed out that STMicroelectronics began to pass out of stock in the second half of last year. Out of stock products include: 8-bit MCUs, Cortex M0/M3/M4 etc. In the first quarter of this year, the situation has not improved. This year, ST has withdrawn from the 8-bit MCU chip market. In addition, in 2018, Apple’s new iPhone will be fully imported into 3D sensing. ST is the only supplier and IDM plant is bound to Continue to squeeze out the MCU capacity.
In addition, NXP began to increase prices for key products such as NXP's MCUs and automotive microcontrollers from the first quarter of 2018, lengthening the lead time, and the price increase ranged from 5% to 10%. Domestic MCU manufacturers are in this wave. Continued to benefit from the shortage of goods.
Of course, for the application of MCU in wireless charging, the overall performance of the product must also be taken into consideration and the receiver must be matched. Jin Guangyi believes that the positioning of the wireless charging function determines whether it is necessary to support the complete wireless protocol and pass the Qi authentication. Testing on-load/communication unwrapping capability, foreign object detection, efficiency, compatibility, etc. The current discrete solution of 32-bit MCUs has the advantage of being more flexible, able to meet the needs for development of different powers, multiple functions, and the cost can be maximized. excellent.
Relatively speaking, the use of dedicated chip solutions has increased the degree of integration and stability, and is very suitable for standardization. However, the problems that need to be solved need to be further improved, such as the design of the voltage regulator architecture, the integration of power devices, and the current cost is not dominant.
Lu Huihong believes that the wireless charging chip is not a pure power device, but an SoC product. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on the development of system-level ICs. For the transmitter chip, the current market is more complex, and many wireless charging companies use MCUs and separate devices. For stacking designs, there are companies that use some integrated power devices (MOSFETs and Drivers) with MCUs to design TX solutions.
According to reports, given the maturity of MOSFET power devices, the ease of finding and the flexibility of the supported solutions, Xinjie's transmit-end solution puts MOSFET power devices out of the chip.
Jin Guangyi believes that although mid-to-high-end products using the MCU solution have relatively high technical content and relatively high selling prices, they can support the complete protocol, meet high security requirements, and bring a better user experience. Apple will have a price cut after opening MFi certification, so it will gradually occupy the mainstream market.
It is worth mentioning that, from the perspective of applications, the mobile phone wireless charging fast charging power is higher than 5W, which needs to take into account the performance of charging stability, charging efficiency, foreign object detection, and wireless interference to the mobile phone signal, etc. The requirements for wireless charging on the transmitter side will also increase. From the current trend, wireless charging will be the standard for portable consumer electronics such as mobile phones, tablets, and watches. WPC's Qi standard has taken absolute dominant position. With standard The continuous updating and improvement will further standardize the wireless charging market and promote industrial upgrading. The wireless charging market will also become more competitive.
2. The first-phase investment will be 12 billion yuan, and the controlled industrialization base of China Branch will be located in Kunshan;
On March 25th, the “Chinese Academy of Science and Security Controllable Information Technology Industrialization Base” (referred to as the “Central Branch Controllable Industrialization Base”) jointly supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Jiangsu Province was formally launched in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province. Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Party Group Member Zhang Yaping, member of the Standing Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Suzhou Municipal Committee Zhou Naixiang attended the launch ceremony and delivered a speech.
Launching Ceremony for Construction of Controlled Industrialization Base in China Branch
The launching ceremony marked the entry into the formal implementation stage of a major project of the National Information Technology Industry that focuses on safety and control.
The safe and controllable information industry is a key technology area related to China's national security strategy and industrial health development. The Chinese Academy of Sciences attaches great importance to the cooperation between the two sides. Zhang Yaping expressed in his speech that he believes that with the start of the Zhongke Controlled Industrialization Base project, Kunshan will take a solid step in the development of becoming an important electronic information industry base in China and even in the world. He hoped that the two sides of the hospital will give full play to their respective advantages and jointly promote the high-quality development of the national economy through technological innovation.
Vice President Zhang Yaping delivered a speech at the launch ceremony
Zhou Naixiang, member of the Standing Committee of Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Suzhou Municipal Party Committee, called the Zhongke Controlled Industrialization Base a 'world-level project' in his speech and will play a very important supporting role for China’s computer industry and its applications. He explained that With a total investment of more than US$10 billion, Zhongke Controlled Industrialization Base is one of the largest single investment projects in Suzhou in recent years and is highly innovative and leading. It is believed that the smooth implementation of these major projects will promote the Suzhou industry. The potential for transformation and upgrading of reserves, stamina reserves, and injecting strong momentum for high-quality economic and social development.
The reporter learned that the main body of the safe and controllable information technology industrialization base of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is located in the Nanxun Lake Science and Technology Park of Kunshan National High-tech Industrial Development Zone, and the implementation of the base project 'Zhongke Controlled Information Industry Co., Ltd.' (by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Holdings Co., Ltd. , China Branch Shuguang, Kunshan High-tech Group Co., Ltd. and other units jointly invested), a total investment of 12 billion yuan in the first phase, plans to invest 1 billion yuan in 2018, the construction content includes: National Advanced Computing Industry Innovation Center, the national integrated circuit major project - Security controlled chip R & D and industrialization, with an annual output of 1 million sets of safe and controllable high-performance computer server production base.
In recent years, despite the fact that the “bottleneck” constraints in some manufacturing areas in China are being eased, a large number of high-end chips still need to be imported each year. According to the statistics of China Semiconductor Industry Association, the integrated circuit import value in 2017 was 260.1 billion US dollars, and the resulting trade deficit also reached 19.32 billion U.S. dollars, setting a record high. The Chinese company controlled industrialization base will exert its power on the design and production of core electronic devices in the future, and it is expected to break through the issue of China's long-term dependence on imports of 'card neck' problems.
In the same period of the launching ceremony, China Branch Controlled the signing of a memorandum of cooperation with industry upstream and downstream enterprises Huanxu Electronics and Qinkun Technology to integrate industrial chain resources and jointly promote the construction of industrialized base projects.
3. Germany began to worry that Chinese companies would invest in acquisitions indiscriminately;
The report titled 'Worry about Berlin's greediness' pointed out that in Germany, the trust of companies in the past to conduct reciprocal trade with China is collapsing. Germany will be willing to accept China's economic investment to what extent. After two years of receiving the KUKA Group, which controls Germany's robot manufacturing, China Electric Group's 'Mei' Group has faced this gluttonous purchase and has already begun to change its attitude of 'indecisiveness'.
In the past few weeks, people can see China’s acceleration in buying ambitions for German companies. At the end of February this year, for example, Li Shufu, owner of China’s Geely Automobile Group, bought a 10% stake in Germany’s Daimler Automotive Group in an opaque operation. Daimler is a symbol of the German technology leader in automotive manufacturing. Then, on March 20th, China's Tencent Group invested 37 billion euros in Berlin’s newly-established German network digital bank N26; Tencent’s Chinese network giant, owns The WeChat customers have come in to break through 1 billion people. Tencent was also one of the two major companies that jointly invested 1.6 to give to Germany's famous mobile phone financial group 'Allianz'. Allianz Insurance Group is regarded as German fintech One of the most successful companies depends on their new technology in the financial field.
The German online banking group N26 said on Tuesday that it was 'very happy' to see the Tencent Group participate in the investment. It said: 'Tencent's China Group has always been a social network, online game, e-commerce, mobile phone payment and other pioneering leaders. . ' Rudolph, owner of the KUKA Robot Group, also stressed at a group news conference on March 22 that: 'The Chinese market is extremely important.'
This is an example of China's acquisition of 100% of the 100 German companies with a total of 11 billion euros in 2016 to highlight China’s strength.
Until now, Germany regards their Chinese partners as valuable allys who can develop themselves and give them priority to enter a huge and growing market. And this expenditure on research and development is not too embarrassing. It can allow German companies to have no The field of people driving cars competes with the Silicon Valley of the United States. There are also robots, service industries for mobile phones and other fields. In particular, the latter is exactly what the German Internet Banking Group N26 pursues.
As for the others, there are German industries that are now becoming super dependent on the Chinese market. Daimler sold 600,000 cars in China in 2017, accounting for one-third of the group's total production. This is almost the second largest volume of Volkswagen Group cars. In one part, the public has taken root in China since 1986. That is to say, without the Chinese market, German industry will not have today's achievements.
This is a time of crisis
This is why the German authorities are still hesitant to limit China’s purchase transaction. The China National Electrical Appliance Group’s “Beauty Group” controlled the German government’s rebound caused by the German KUKA manufacturing robot group. At that time, the Ministry of Economic Affairs tried to find it for it. A European investor. But soon gave up on this action: Due to disagreements in the industry, and the bid was too high. As a result, the China Electrical Appliances Group purchased the German KUKA robot at a price of over 4.5 billion euros over the extremely high market price. Group. The cadres of a small and medium-sized German company that has set up a factory in China since 1996 have pointed out to the French newspaper Le Monde: 'We can't swell in China's grand exhibition, but we can also limit China's investment in Germany. Today is the era of globalization!'
However, the trust of German companies for the benefits of trade with China is gradually falling apart. A source close to the German industry pointed out: 'We are in a moment of crisis. Since Xi Jinping came to power, we have been getting more and more difficult. The trading environment and conditions. The situation in entering the Chinese market has not improved. Companies are skeptical whether they can retain their own company’s technological intellectual property rights in China. Those who have opened up a business infrastructure have expressed a 'crisis'. There is enough ambiguity that they must provide China with their own technological skills. This may be the case in the field of electric vehicles.
China’s strategic goals are: 'Made in China by 2025'. This is a change in the rules of the game. This means that the Chinese government should build China into a leader in advanced industries. To replace these foreign companies. For Germany, the situation has been going down since the Chinese Communist Party Congress was held in the fall of 2017. The source also said: 'We are telling ourselves that we no longer have this trading partner. Prior to this, and it, we have been able to find solutions when we come across problems. And we are currently considering what attitude to use to respond to these issues. ' A German economist also advocated to strengthen the monitoring of China German companies invest in acquisitions and projects, in particular, to make their sources of funding crystal clear. Everything must be transparent. Voices of the World
4. British media: China and the United States to dominate the artificial intelligence Europe has been 'out of the game'
According to British media, one of the most striking features of the current artificial intelligence boom is that China has suddenly emerged as a global artificial intelligence power. The US’s hegemony in the field of artificial intelligence was first challenged.
According to the “Financial Times” website reported on March 21, artificial intelligence experienced unusual ups and downs in the past 60 years, but one of the unchanging characteristics of this field is that the United States has always dominated.
According to the report, a simple and useful way to measure the scientific power of a country is to observe the performance of a country in the important scientific publishing community. Historically, an important scientific conference in the field of artificial intelligence was the year of the Artificial Intelligence Promotion Association. It was first held in 1980. Within a few years there were about 5,000 delegates. The 1980 conference was dominated by the United States: There was not a paper written by a Chinese institution's researchers, and Europe had only a handful of papers. Of course, this is not surprising: The conference was centered on the United States in the early days.
According to reports, the situation is now quite different. At the 2018 Congress held in New Orleans in February this year, China submitted 25% more papers than the United States (the former is 1,242, and the latter is 934).
According to reports, it is difficult to conclude that China is now in fierce competition with the United States for dominance in the field of artificial intelligence. No European country can compete on this scale, even if as a whole, Europe actually There is also no competition for gold or silver.
According to the report, why is China suddenly so prominent? In a word: scale. Machine learning technology behind the current artificial intelligence boom is extremely dependent on data. Identifying faces, translating languages, and experimenting with driverless cars require a lot of 'training data' - This is the fuel for machine learning algorithms that we generate each time we use the Internet or use a smartphone.
According to the report, since China has a larger population than the United States and Europe, Chinese companies have natural advantages in accessing data. In terms of the number of users and the market value, several Chinese technology companies are global giants. All invest heavily in artificial intelligence on an astonishing scale.
In 2017, AI expert Wu Enda declared that artificial intelligence is 'new power', and 'just as electricity changed many industries about 100 years ago, artificial intelligence will now also change almost all major industries'. If so, China is very likely to become an artificial intelligence generator in the coming decades.