On March 22, the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office issued the '301 Investigation' report, and U.S. President Trump ordered the U.S. Department of the Treasury to formulate relevant policies on China’s investment in the United States within 60 days, triggering continued influence on China’s integrated circuit industry. The development of China's integrated circuit industry has suffered the most severe 'pain period', and the external environment is the worst in recent years.
301 investigation aimed at - Yizhuang SDIC to help create a northern merger and acquisition iML
In August last year, the U.S. Trade Representative Office (USTR) announced that it would launch a '301 investigation' to China to determine whether China’s laws or policies on technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation are discriminatory against U.S. companies.
The 301 investigation report pointed out that semiconductors are the foundation of U.S. technology leadership and are also critical to U.S. national security; however, after China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Integrated Circuit Industries in 2014, it called for substantial funds to support China's integrated circuit industry. And the establishment of a national integrated circuit industry investment fund and local industry fund to support cross-border acquisitions and promote the upgrading of China's integrated circuit industry.
In view of this, the 301 investigation report considers that the Chinese government's policy support is 'unfair' to the development of the U.S. integrated circuit industry and U.S. companies; and the report also refers to the large amount of capital created by the U.S. North with the help of Yizhuang SDIC to acquire the U.S. The case of the subject iML, thus supporting the significant impact of the above strategy.
On November 10, 2016, Yizhuang SDIC and Beijing Novo North Science & Technology Co., Ltd. (abbreviated as “Chuangchuang North”) jointly invested in the establishment of Beijing Suitang Chuangchuang Technology Co., Ltd. (abbreviated as “Suitang Chuangchuang”) and acquired US IC. Design company Exar's power management IC design company iML, and formally completed delivery.
In the face of the late start of the domestic integrated circuit industry, and the overall strength lagging behind, the industry is the most direct way to do it through overseas mergers and acquisitions. As an Izhuang SDIC that shoulders the industrial mission, it always operates in accordance with international market rules. All enterprises are in compliance with the laws of the United States. Based on this, they strengthen overseas M&A projects and boost the development of the domestic IC industry.
To expand iML, to create a win-win situation for the North to accelerate globalization
Dr. Zhang Jinfang, the Chief Executive Officer of Chichuang North, said in an interview with NET.com that the 301 investigation report invested Yizhuang Guotou’s investment in the iML project of overseas acquisition of the overseas standard, and came up with a long speech. It was overly ambitious. First, iML mainly focuses on the field of panel power management. This industry is not available in the United States. Last year, Foxconn wanted to build a panel plant in the United States. It has not yet been completed. Second, iML's direct customers are all in Asia, and the supply chain is also in Asia. The vast majority of its employees are also in Asia, and its impact on the US industry is negligible. .
Due to the actual regional restrictions with customers, iML will be out of touch with the industry in the United States. iML performance has also been declining in the past few years. 'If iML is not created by the acquisition of the North, I believe that there is only one way out in the future and it will be eliminated by Asian competitors. '
After the acquisition of iML by Chuangbei North, iML's headquarters is still in the United States. Zhang Jinfang revealed that even though the industry where iML is located is still very weak in the United States, Cutronic North is continuously increasing its investment in iML U.S. headquarters, thus creating a US local market. Many opportunities, while retaining the existing employees, also added a lot of American employees, promote humanity, inclusive development, wages, benefits are very generous.
The combination of the advantages of North Korea in the panel display industry will continue to drive iML expansion and further stabilize iML's industrial status. Therefore, whether it is assessed in the immediate or long-term, this will be beneficial to the U.S. industry and has no impact. The United States IC industry said.
In recent years, the panel-driven ICs involved in iML are entering a new round of product innovation cycle. In this round of cycles, drive IC companies from China have already taken the initiative, and the development of the North has also accelerated. 2017, set The operating revenue of Chuangbei exceeded RMB 1 billion in the whole year. In the income structure, LED driver chips accounted for about 40%; Panel power management (Power) chips accounted for about 40%; LCD driver chips accounted for about 5%; other chips Accounting for about 15%.
From the upstream equipment materials, the electronic industry chain from the IC to the terminal is not completed by a single region or country. This is generally accomplished through international cooperation. Although the largest market for the industry currently is in China, The goal is to become an international company. At present, Trinity North continues to increase investment and investment in the United States and other overseas markets. About two-thirds of the company's executives come from overseas.
“The goal of TCI is to become an international company. Through an international team, we will cooperate internationally. After the acquisition of iML, we will not want to get back to China. The goal is to expand the global market.” Zhang Jinfang emphasized on Tec.net. Through the merger and acquisition of iML, Trinity North has further strengthened its influence in the industry. The global strength of iML has also been significantly improved. This is a win-win situation. The United States should adopt an open, inclusive attitude to view this industry development trend and situation.
Taiwan should be more open. Self-study will be a self-reliance road.
In addition to the negative impact of the 'US 301 investigation', China’s Taiwan is also setting limits. The external environment is very unfavorable to the development of the mainland's integrated circuit industry. This is also the current period of the Chinese mainland's development of the integrated circuit industry have to face the painful period. .
According to industry sources, Taiwan, China has already regarded the integrated circuit and panel display as a pillar-based strategic industry, and there are related industry restrictions. Taiwan-related semiconductor design and manufacturing do not allow land-based participation. This is when Ziguang went to Taiwan to acquire semiconductors. An important reason why a company hasn't become one.
At present, Taiwan does not allow mainland semiconductor companies to hire R&D personnel locally. Continental Semiconductor's office in Taiwan is generally only a sales or customer service staff. This is a restrictive issue that mainland semiconductor companies have in Taiwan.
According to Wang Yanhui, the secretary general of China Mobile, the integrated circuit companies including Japan and South Korea and Taiwan, although not publicly clamouring with Chinese mainland manufacturers, continue to threaten and harass employees working in mainland China.
In this regard, Zhang Jinfang urged that mainland China and Taiwan are not rivals. In the cooperation and exchanges between Taiwan’s IC industry and mainland China, the Taiwan authorities should be more open and inclusive; semiconductor talents across the Strait should use the opportunity of the rise of the Chinese mainland to grasp This historical opportunity. The Taiwanese integrated circuit industry once had a strong advantage. In the globalization of trade today, the Taiwan side should take a more rational view of these issues. Blameless restrictions will not prevent the rise of the IC industry in mainland China. The more we open up, the faster we develop, and finally we can achieve a win-win situation. This includes the opening up of talents, the opening up of capital and the opening up of technology, and the restriction of industry or trade protection is not good for either side.'
Zhang Jinfang said that the IC industry in mainland China is still in its infancy and there is still a certain gap between the overall strength of the United States and Taiwan and China. This is a reality that we must face squarely. The semiconductor companies in mainland China must have a broad scope to catch up. We must seize the opportunity of the development of the current integrated circuit industry and attach great importance to the introduction and cultivation of talents. Chuang Chuang North is an international company. We welcome talents from all over the world to join in.
At the same time, he added that capital support is important, but it also requires rational investment or the introduction of capital, and its insistence on innovation and development has always been the most important way out. For example, the outstanding domestic panel makers representing BOE and Huaxing Optoelectronics are after years of unyielding efforts. Walk to today.
The IC industry in mainland China still has a long way to go. From the perspective of the industrial development path, the current external environment is further deteriorating. Overseas mergers and acquisitions may become increasingly difficult in the future. Taking the road to independent research and development will be the surest way to achieve self-reliance. Road. Zhang Jinfang emphasized that, the good news is that the semiconductor industry in mainland China is becoming more and more talented, financial, and policy-oriented. The entire industry is in a golden period. The external environment is bound to hinder the rise of semiconductor companies in mainland China. White, the rising Chinese integrated circuit industry will eventually be overhanging.
2.360 mobile phone to start the merger with a hammer phone? Zhou Hongyi responds: Silly hat in the Hu spray
Micronet collection April 18 report
Today, some media reports said that 360 (601360) has begun to spin off its mobile phone business and launched a merger with a hammer mobile phone. The news will be announced after the 360 annual report.
However, this news was just released and it was faced by party 360. In the afternoon, 360 Group Chairman Zhou Hongyi forwarded the message in a circle of friends and said, 'This is what the fool's website is in Hu Pei, and is not afraid of being beaten'.
In fact, this rumor was not accidental. As early as the beginning of March this year, there were a number of media reports that the 360 mobile phone and Hammer Technology were in talks and mergers. The final transaction has not yet been reached. At that time, both parties stated that before the Chinese New Year in 2018, Begin contact, and both teams have already met.
In other words, Zhou Hongyi and Luo Yonghao once actually had a preliminary intention, but may not be able to reach a conclusion.
As for the reasons for not meeting, according to Tencent Technology's quote from people familiar with the situation: Zhou Hongjun originally wanted to work together with Hammer Technology to make the 360 mobile phone brand bigger, but also make the hammer brand more powerful, but the hammer technology is rising shipments , need to invest a lot of money, there is not enough resources and funds to support the cooperation of the two sides, so Zhou Hongyi decided to continue to do by the 360 mobile phone team, and give full support, want to make the 360 mobile phone to a new level.
Some analysts pointed out that behind the merger rumors are the epitome of the Chinese mobile phone market environment. At present, the growth of China's smart phone market has stagnated, and the situation of strong and permanent strong, leaving small and medium-sized mobile phone manufacturers have less and less living space. Without strong financial support, many small brands do not survive this winter.
Data shows that in the Chinese smartphone market in 2017, the top five manufacturers’ market share exceeds 75%, leaving only 24.3% of all remaining manufacturers. This shows that the current market is in a state of extreme polarization. It is expected that the market will concentrate in the next two years. Degree will further intensify.
Earlier, industry insiders said in an interview with JiWei.com that except for the small brands such as OnePlus, 8848, Meitu, etc., other small brand manufacturers are in a loss state. Further market concentration is very unfavorable for small and medium-sized brands. In the next two years, there will be a large number of manufacturers closing down or exiting. For example, the original sub-brand of Coolpad Group has stopped the development and production of mobile phones.
At present, 360 mobile phones and hammer phones face the same pressure. Although Zhou Hongyi has reorganized the mobile phone business several times in the past few years, 360 mobile phone sales have been unable to break through, and sales have maintained about 5 million in the past two years. It was only for the first time in 2017 that the breakeven balance was achieved. Before, 360 Li Kaixin, president of the mobile phone, said that in the year of 1818, the 360 mobile phone will continue to move steadily and steadily. It will not hurry, keep growing, seek profit, and go one step at a time.
The hammer mobile phone has been in a loss state. The data shows that in 2016 alone, the company’s net loss was 428 million. However, in 2017, the hammer mobile phone received 1 billion yuan of financing. Among them, the Chengdu government invested 6 billion yuan. How long the funds can support, you need to look at the market performance of hammer phones this year, Luo Yonghao is currently under pressure.
3. Hou Weigui, the founder of ZTE Corporation, went to the mountains for the sanction case. The back is moving.
On the evening of April 18, a micro-network message was reported on the back of a ZTE’s founder, Hou Weigui’s airport, in a circle of friends. For the violation of the U.S. government’s sanctions ban, ZTE’s sanctions on the U.S. have already been restored. When he heard the news, Hou Weigui, the founder of ZTE Corporation, immediately began to run around for this matter. In the photo, he and two other ZTE executives pushed their suitcases to pick up their luggage at the airport. The industry figures said that the reverence of the old gentleman made people feel back. Moving, I hope ZTE will live.
Sun Changxu, a partner of Xiaomi Industry Investment Department, said in a circle of friends that it is useless to say anything. Only 'adopting' is useful. Undoubtedly, many domestically produced devices will pay more than imported devices, so the company The decision-makers must reward this kind of effort before they can really encourage the use of domestically produced devices. Other capital operations cannot fundamentally help the Chinese core, but only make the capital market crazy. The road is long and may be implemented in a certain proportion. Localized device purchase quota is one direction. Xiaomi Industry Investment Department aims to help Chinese core, help Chinese core to be adopted, and help Chinese core to grow.
On the evening of April 16, Beijing time, the US Department of Commerce announced that it prohibited US companies from selling components and parts to Zhongxing. The deadline was seven years. In addition, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security also fined ZTE with a fine of US$300 million. Previous media reports The plight of China's smart phone maker ZTE further intensified. In addition to the possibility of cutting its sales, the export ban from the United States may also prevent ZTE from using Google’s Android operating system in its devices. ZTE stated that the company In communicating with the U.S. government authorities on this matter, hoping to reduce the impact of this incident, it is difficult to predict the outcome of the incident.
4. Apple faces more and more difficult to solve iPhone design issues
In order to reduce the screen frame and increase the screen size, Apple continued to make changes in the design of the iPhone, removed the headphone jack in 2016, and in the iPhone X is to remove the Home key to use the Face ID function, but analysts pointed out , Apple is gradually facing a bottleneck, the space available for mobile phone design has been limited.
Apple has significantly reduced the screen border size in the design of the iPhone X, but still due to camera lenses, speakers and 3D sensors, it needs to keep a small piece of 'bangs' on the screen, but continuing to shrink the screen frame will be a future trend.
Gene Munster, a senior technology analyst at Loup Ventures, said that Apple's current iPhone design has almost no objects to be dropped. Mark Rolston, co-founder of design consultancy Argodesign, points out that within the limitations of the current technology, it is most likely The situation is, Apple will continue to 'one millimeter a millimeter' to reduce the border, so that the current sensors and cameras can still work properly.
However, the secret of a design that really gives the screen a new experience may lie in the screen itself. Recent reports indicate that Apple is testing curved screens and non-touch sensitive gestures. If motion sensors can be embedded in the screen, then Can reduce the sensor's need for border space.
In addition, Apple is manufacturing and testing its own MicroLED screen, which has aroused investors' interest. Currently, Samsung is a supplier of Apple OLED screens. If Apple continues to develop MicroLED screens, it may use the technology in small devices like the iPhone in the future.
Rolston pointed out that Apple’s own production of parts means that, under the existing supply chain, Apple has done its best to achieve the innovative design that they can achieve.
It is rumored that Apple will launch the new Apple AirPower in 2018. Just like removing the headphone jack and turning to the wireless Bluetooth headset, Apple may remove the wired charging hole in the future and switch to wireless charging completely. But Jason Snell, editor of the Apple News website Point out that this will make it difficult to maintain the phone.
In addition, Snell believes that Apple’s removal of the Home key is only the first step in declaring a button on the button. Afterwards, the design may go in the direction of further removing other buttons, such as removing the buttons on the side and controlling the volume. To the headset implementation, but these are only speculation, the current market can not determine what technology Apple will use to replace the button.
Snell pointed out: 'The less buttons or ports outside the device, the more freedom the company has to change internal technologies'. For example, the iPhone 7 removes the headphone jack, so there is room for larger batteries.
The Apple test curved screen, and non-touch sensing gestures represent that the future iPhone may not need touch components. However, Apple is a very secret company, it is difficult to predict when the company will launch a truly comprehensive Screen equipment, and the company's patents, some patents may never come out, so can not predict the design plan.
Kelvin Securities’s well-recognized analyst Guo Mingyao pointed out that in 2018 Apple may launch three new mobile phones, one is a 5.8-inch OLED screen iPhone X, one is a 6.5-inch OLED screen iPhone X Plus, and 6.1 吋 LCD Screen of the iPhone.
5. Domestic mobile phone market share in the first quarter: Apple's first HTC almost disappeared. Xiaohua OV grabs users
Gathering micro-network news Recently, the big data service provider QuestMobile released the China Mobile Internet Data Report for the first quarter of 2018. Although this report focuses on the trend of domestic mobile internet, it also involves the use of smart terminals (ie, mobile phones). section.
From the perspective of the nationality of mobile phone manufacturers, foreign mobile phone manufacturers that can be ranked in top10 have left only Apple, and Samsung and eight other seats have been occupied by Chinese mobile phone manufacturers. On the one hand, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have made new opportunities each month to maintain market popularity. On the other hand, it is also related to the market pricing of domestic mobile phone manufacturers.
Judging from the overall market share, Apple's image on the big market and God-optimized iOS are undisputed boss positions, accounting for about a quarter of the market share. OPPO, the international manufacturer, won the second place. The results should be mainly based on mobile phone products last year. After all, the R15 series has a short time to market and has not yet formed a scale.
From the perspective of the changes in the market share of individual mobile phone manufacturers, in addition to the OPPO, Huawei’s market share in other mobile phone manufacturers decreased in the first quarter, and the OPPO’s offline strength was fully reflected. Huawei also demonstrated artificial intelligence. The attraction of a selling point.
If we compare the statistics of last year's QuestMobile last year, we find some interesting phenomena.
The first is HTC. Last year, HTC was able to enter the list with a market share of 0.4%. However, by the first quarter of this year, HTC has disappeared. It may be related to Wang Xuehong’s All in VR strategy. The mobile phone business is turbulent. The departure of executives, etc., makes HTC's mobile phone business basically marginal.
Next is the second child. The position of the youngest child is fiercely contested. In the past year, Huawei became the second child with a market share of 15.9%, and OPPO became the third with a market share of 15.2%. However, this year, although the market share of both parties has increased significantly, The position was swapped, OPPO became the second place, and Huawei became the probe. The reason for this phenomenon may be the result of the OPFO offline market force. It can be said that OPPO is a top-to-bottom N salesperson.
Finally, the domestic mobile phone market share gradually converged to top5 led by Apple, Huawei, OPPO, Vivo and Xiaomi. From last year to the first quarter of this year, the market share of Samsung, Jinli, Meizu, Coolpad and other mobile phone manufacturers all fell, of course, the most Miserable or almost disappeared HTC, was directly assigned to other, showing how fierce competition in the domestic mobile phone market.
From the perspective of the domestic mobile phone market share to the giants' concentration, the reshuffle of domestic mobile phone manufacturers is still underway. Perhaps the distance from Huawei’s terminal boss Yu Chengdong’s “only three mobile phone makers in the world and Samsung and Huawei” will not be far behind. Proofreading / Fan Rong)
6. The number of smartphones in India will reach 585 million in 2020, and the potential of the mobile game market is huge
India currently has one-tenth of the global players and has the world’s second largest smartphone user group. This year, 387 million Indian consumers will use smart phones, which is twice as many as two years ago and will grow to 585 million by 2020. The size of the Indian population and the potential of the game have attracted many eyeballs in the past few years. For Western and Asian game companies, it is time to consider entering.
Importantly, a major threshold has only recently been canceled; data costs have fallen by a factor of four in the past year. This solves the connection problems that have plagued India in the past. Since then, consumer demand for mobile content has soared. Accelerated economic growth began to be reflected in the key monetization indicators for individual games. The average revenue per user of Android devices (which accounted for 94% of all smart phones in India) doubled in two years, greatly boosting each paid mobile game. Annual Player Expenditure. The time to enter India now depends on a number of factors, from long-term brand building strategies, genre and business models to connection requirements, the equipment specifications needed to run the game, and the required profit metrics.
Newzoo’s consumer insights on India are based on the online population of the following cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Pune, Lucknow, Patna.
India and its mobile first culture
Our global tablet and smartphone tracker shows that in 2016, smart phone users in India surpassed the U.S. to become the world’s second largest market. Since then, the number of smartphones used has continued to exceed global adoption. It was only in 2017. Seventy-four million smartphones were used, accounting for about a quarter (24%) of all new smartphones.
Data from Newzoo consumer insights confirms that India is a mobile-first country, and mobile gaming is a very popular pastime. In 2017, mobile gamers reached 222 million, and 89% of Indian game revenue came from mobile games. Players are highly engaged; they play games almost every third of the week, more than five days per week, and nearly 40% of players spend more than six hours per week playing mobile games. Indian consumers’ participation in mobile devices is not limited to Games. Overall, more than 50% of consumers prefer to use mobile devices instead of other media for daily activities such as reading, listening to music, watching videos, social networking and shopping. Their interest in mobile services and mobile media content is much higher. For Western consumers. For example, 54% of Indian consumers shop on their mobile devices, compared to 37% in the United Kingdom and 34% in the United States. In addition, 67% prefer to use mobile phones to pay for physical stores. Only 27% higher than the United States.
Mobile game revenue growth accelerated
India’s annual mobile gaming revenue is expected to grow from US$1.1 billion in 2018 to US$2.4 billion in 2020, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of +49%. This has made India the fastest growing mobile gaming market in the world. Revenue growth. However, even under this impressive growth scenario, the average revenue per ARPPU in India by 2020 is much lower than the established market, with other emerging countries with similar market conditions. Compared to also lower.
Like India, game revenues in regions such as Southeast Asia or the Middle East are driven by mobile devices, mainly due to increased smartphone penetration and availability and affordability of mobile data. For example, if India’s mobile payers spend the same amount every year as Indonesia, then By 2020, the market may grow to 5.2 billion U.S. dollars.
Game monetization indicators have finally been realized
As a whole, the absolute growth of gamers and mobile revenue means that if the rules of the game are of no economic significance to developers, then they have no reason to publish their games. Acquiring users in India is relatively cheap, per install. The cost (CPI) price is 12 percentage points lower than the United States. Until recently, due to the extremely low conversion rate and the low average spending figures, the average daily user average income (ARPDAU) was similarly reduced or even worse. Over the past two years, this The key metric has doubled; this means that there is only a fivefold difference between Android and India on Android devices. Considering that the number of smartphone users has more than doubled in the same period, this increase is even more significant, ultimately leading to personal gaming. The developer's market is more attractive.
Why may it be the best time to enter the market now?
Despite the impressive potential of India's mobile market, it is noteworthy that the average smartphone level is quite basic. According to the global tablet and smartphone tracker, India's ranking in the use of high-end smart phones is very low: As of 2018 January is 7.5% (high-end smartphones are defined as smartphones with a minimum specification of 2 CPU cores, 2GB of memory, 4G connectivity, NFC, biometrics (fingerprints, facial IDs) and released after 2014 or more In contrast, this proportion is 17.5% in China and nearly 60% in South Korea. Some of India's most popular models are economical devices such as Xiaomi's red rice series, Samsung's J series or OPPO A series.
On the other hand, the prices of high-end specification equipment have rapidly declined in the past few months as Chinese smartphone brands like Xiaomi and Vivo are seeing India as the next source of growth. As a result, the share of high-end smartphones used in India has been rising. We expect there will be more smartphones in use in the next few years. Plus, the cost of data in India will once again drop to a quarter of current prices in 2020 (Source: Analysys Mason), which is the growth of mobile games in the country. Potential paints a bright picture.
Now every user’s income and the required smartphone specifications are moving in the right direction. Indian consumers need to get more mobile game content. Last year, India’s top ten best-selling games were mainly casual games and localized card games. Both games are mainly profitable through advertising. Compared with Indonesia or Vietnam, core mobile games such as Garena's Arena of Valor (Tengxun's King Glory Localization) and NetStone's "Heaven 2: Rebirth" are being adopted. In-app purchase business model to promote conversion and user revenue. Our research confirms that mobile gamers prefer to spend directly on core games rather than leisure types. In India, Supercell's "Royal War" and other mid-core games Success shows that the demand for such games is growing. Developing (or localizing) core mobile game content for Indian consumers' preferences will help develop new mobile game scenarios and drive average spending per payee to other emerging markets. s level.
Compared to other Asian countries, publishing games in India may also be easier because most of the population speaks English, especially in first-tier and second-tier cities. Unlike China or Japan, there are no mainstream publishers in the region, and there is no government regulation. It is necessary to find publishing partners. With the plans of Asian giants such as Tencent and Netgame to enter the Indian market is rapidly forming, western publishers are now more likely than ever to gain share in the world's second largest mobile market.
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