1. Apple's second deletion of the 'millimeter wave IC design engineer' recruitment, with Intel, Qualcomm appearance off?
Gathering micro-messages, Apple was blown out today and released a position as a 'millimeter wave IC design engineer' second. According to the job description, Apple seems to intend to abandon the use of wireless chips manufactured by Qualcomm, and is also likely to be in the future iPhone Discarding Intel's processor on the phone.
In this quickly deleted recruitment announcement, Apple wrote: "Seeking the core of the chip design team", specifically the "millimeter wave integrated circuit design engineer", with a doctorate and can perfectly assist in designing the next generation of iPhone for the next generation 5G Modem. Job responsibilities: Work with platform architects, system teams, and digital design teams to determine millimeter-wave phased front-end and baseband module requirements based on product requirements; work with technical teams and foundries to perform process assessments for target devices. Selection. In addition, the job description also mentions that it involves bringing 'functional products to hundreds of millions of consumers', and that Apple currently has no other product line of this magnitude. In the first quarter of 2018, Apple A total of 77 million iPhone devices were sold, and the number of Macs sold at the same time was only 5 million.
This recruitment notice shows that for next-generation 5G networks, especially millimeter-wave networks, Apple is trying to develop its own chips. Millimeter-wave networks can provide higher bandwidth than current LTE networks. It is also equivalent to Apple’s official confirmation that it plans to independently develop 5G baseband chips. Replaces products offered by Qualcomm or Intel. Apple has not commented on this yet.
5G is undoubtedly an exciting technology. Since last May, Apple has been testing millimeter wave technology in Cupertino, Calif., and has also joined the industry organization of 5G technology. Last week, the FCC announced a number of applications, which showed Apple is seeking permission to launch new RF tests in the 'Innovation Zone' of Apple Park headquarters and 1 Infini Loop campus.
These applications are related to the new FCC regulatory requirements. This provision allows companies like Apple to experiment with mobile communications technologies without completing a lot of regulatory procedures. The 2018 application mentions the 'gigahertz' band. Apple previously applied for testing. The frequency bands are 28GHz and 39GHz, respectively.
According to reports, since May 2017 until now, Apple has been testing millimeter wave technology after obtaining permission from the Federal Communications Commission, and recently applied for testing equipment in the 'gigahertz' band. Millimeter waves will only eventually include unfinished One of the many technologies of the 5G standard, but the millimeter wave can reach the data transmission rate that is difficult to reach in the current mobile network.
Although the technology is still not mature enough. On the one hand, the millimeter wave cannot travel too far away. On the other hand, the millimeter wave is difficult to circumvent obstacles in the propagation path relative to the current frequency band. However, Apple scientists and researchers are likely to Having learned these deficiencies. If Apple can develop key next-generation technologies and get rid of a legal enemy at the same time, why not try it?
The relationship between Apple and Intel, Qualcomm
The contradiction between Apple and Qualcomm has been long-standing. In the second half of 2016, Apple changed its multi-year approach. iPhone baseband orders were no longer handled by Qualcomm, and Intel and Qualcomm jointly received orders. Later, they continued to report on their own development of baseband chips. Even if Apple is not in legal disputes with Qualcomm, the company may want to have its own 5G technology. Apple CEO Cook once said that Apple hopes to have all the core technologies, including the chips currently provided by Qualcomm.
KGI's Gu Minghao, a well-known analyst, predicts that the iPhone baseband chip will be dominated by Intel in the second half of the year. Although Apple is interested in getting rid of its dependence on Qualcomm, Intel's progress has not been smooth, and it has so far been unable to produce 10 nanometer chips as scheduled. XMM 7660 It may not be able to ship on schedule. The report pointed out that Intel's baseband chip line has encountered a bottleneck, and the yield rate is not as good as expected. Only 50% is in the lead. Although Intel is confident that it can improve this summer, Apple apparently does not want to take this risk. According to Cult of According to a report on the Mac website, Apple may only hire one person to cooperate with Intel to develop a future wireless chip.
However, the cooperation between Apple and Intel is clearly not so solid. Last month, the media disclosed that Apple plans to abandon the use of Intel processors in future Mac notebooks by 2020, and instead use its own ARM-based processors. According to reports, under the leadership of chief executive Cook, Apple's long-term plan is to "own and master" the company's equipment after the main technology, which also means that the company will give up a large number of suppliers for the production of Apple's suppliers.
Qualcomm, the company recently decided to expand the use of its low-cost licensing model for the next generation of mobile data networks, decided that the base of patent licensing fees in some areas down to 400 US dollars to cap, even for Samsung's licensing fees have also been reduced. A move will help ease the tension between the two major customers, including iPhone maker Apple. It is reported that Qualcomm also hopes to reach a settlement with Apple before the end of 2018, from which it is not difficult to find that there is a trace of high-pass to Apple. The company has signs of compromise.
Due to disputes over Apple’s patented technology licensing fees last year, Qualcomm’s revenue from technology licensing fees was significantly affected. At the same time, Apple’s use of Intel’s baseband chips was substantially adopted last year. Although Qualcomm has repeatedly stressed that it has not been affected by the deterioration of Apple’s relationship, it’s actually From the follow-up financial report performance can still be found due to the lack of authorized profit, so that Qualcomm's overall revenue changes.
2. Foreign media: ARM China joint venture officially operates China's share of 51%
Sina Technology News Beijing time on the evening of May 1st, "Nikkei Asian Review" website quoted many sources today informed that the ARM China joint venture company has been operational by the end of April, and took over ARM's business in the Chinese market.
The informed sources also stated that the joint venture company also plans to list Chinese A-shares. It is reported that the joint venture company is named 'Arm mini China' and headquartered in Shenzhen. Chinese investors account for 51% of the shares, while ARM has the remaining 49%. The joint venture will take over all of ARM's operations in the Chinese market, including licensing and royalties.
ARM is one of the most influential chip technology providers in the world. Currently, about 90% of mobile devices in the world are using ARM's chip technology. Apple, Samsung, Huawei, Qualcomm, Broadcom and MediaTek etc. all need to obtain from ARM. Technical authorization.
Analysts said that the founding of the ARM China joint venture company is also a breakthrough in the chip field in China. At present, China is vigorously developing its own semiconductor industry to reduce its dependence on foreign suppliers. Especially after the blockade of ZTE, China It is even more aware of its urgency.
ARM has not announced its sales data in the Chinese market, but according to analyst estimates, about 25% of the company’s revenue comes from China. Rene Haas, executive vice president of ARM, said that ARM’s business growth in the Chinese market Faster than any other country, it is expected to become the largest ARM market within five years.
It is unclear whether the joint venture’s pricing structure is different from that of the parent ARM and how many employees are transferred to the joint venture company.
In addition, the joint venture also plans to conduct an IPO in China (initial public offering). In early April, it was reported that the ARM China joint venture will soon land on the A-share market during the year.
3. The ASIC application market such as mining, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing is booming
The IC design and service plant has been operating strongly, including creatives, Furuhara and Crystal Heart, etc. Both are optimistic that the revenue will gradually recover.
The first-quarter revenues of IC design service factories such as Creativity generally declined from the previous quarter and the same period of last year. According to industry figures, since the beginning of last year, high-end process orders have started contact with customers. However, most new projects are too late to contribute in the first quarter of this year. Income, combined with the off-season effect, led to flat performance in revenue. However, the situation has changed since April, which has helped the camp gradually recover.
The recent cryptocurrency mining application special-purpose chip (ASIC) shipments maintain high-end, and the company expects optimistic performance will gradually warm up. The main growth momentum includes high-speed computing such as data center control chips, network processors, game-related products and other products. , Estimated customer design commission (NRE) business this year is expected to grow 50% over last year.
The principle of wisdom indicates that the company has put in place an advanced manufacturing process, and the current technology blueprint is quite complete. In the future, Zhiyuan will continue to implement its core competition strategy. Not only will NRE's growth momentum of advanced manufacturing processes be quite optimistic, but also its complete proprietary IP and strong mass production. The strength of the company allows the company to be competitive in the mature process. The ASIC market is expected to flourish with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), high-speed computing (HPC) and other related applications. It will focus on artificial intelligence and niche applications. Strengthen the company's long-term growth momentum.
Shixin’s performance was very bright last year. Artificial intelligence-related products are still operating spindles this year. However, the volume of products produced in the first half of the year is relatively small. It is optimistic that the second quarter results will be better than the first quarter.
In the first quarter of this year, the revenue of Jingxin Branch fell sharply by 57.48% compared with the same period of last year, mainly due to the fact that the licenses of some customers were not recorded as expected. For the second quarter operating outlook, the company stated that due to the characteristics of the industry, the current amount of customers The production of orders is still under control. Initially, Q2 should be expected to be better than the first quarter. Economic Daily
4.IC manufacturers cut into the car chip new blue sea
Automotive technology is at the center of industrial growth. Electric vehicles, self-driving cars, etc. Automotive electronics are taking the multiple growth trend to bring about the growth of the semiconductor industry in the next decade. At present, automotive chips are mostly international companies, IC design companies. Also gradually found opportunities in the Blue Ocean, including MediaTek, Raychem, Sunplus, Liwang, Weiquan Power, Lianjie, Yiqiang, and other accumulative enterprises, etc. They have successively entered the new Blue Ocean. With the increase in the number of automotive chips, the benefits are gradually emerging.
According to IHS Automotive's forecast, with the increasing popularity of self-driving cars, by 2035, auto-driving cars with a certain degree will increase to about 21 million, of which approximately 4.5 million will be in the United States. More than 6,000 semiconductor products are included in-house, and as the car becomes more intelligent and the electronic components such as battery management, traction inverters, car chargers, and DC/DC converters are gradually digitized, this data will continue to grow substantially. .
According to the statistics of DIGITIMES Research, the compound annual growth rate of the global automotive semiconductor market from 2016 to 2018 is expected to reach a level of 6.2% or more. In 2018, the global automotive semiconductor market will reach US$34 billion. The future automobile orientation will be more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. , More secure and more reliable, the number of vehicle chips will only increase.
At present, in the field of vehicle layout, MediaTek has the fastest footsteps and the most complete product line. Ruiqi has invested in car-to-device control chips and 3D panoramic imaging system single-chip products, among which Ethernet control chip is the most professional part of Realtek, which is 10/ The 100Gb Ethernet chip leader has successfully passed the customer certification and introduced the design. It is expected to start heavy volume in the second half of the year.
Sunplus cuts into ADAS without dead-end photography and lane departure warning. It has successfully entered into the after-installation market. Weiwei Electric cuts into the car's ring test image chip and launches an ADAS chip with the international car manufacturer. It has a reversing radar to detect rear-view images. Function. Accumulation and cut into car reading lights, decorative lights and rear lights, etc., and many European automotive parts suppliers certification. Joint evening news
5.Q2 low-end smart phones, automotive electronics and Internet of things market into IC companies focus on pulling goods
The timing came into the traditional off-season of the electronics industry's “five poor and six poor”. The upper reaches of the technology industry’s first quarter TSMC report will reveal the weak demand of Apple’s iPhone and the uncertainty of virtual currency orders. The second quarter results of the Apple’s minority group have a difficult performance. The virtual currency also plunged in bitcoin, and the uncertainties in the future increased. The relevant virtual currency group stalled with the Bitcoin market. On the contrary, the low-end smart phones, vehicle electronics, and the Internet of Things grew steadily, gradually replacing them with 2 seasons operating new highlights.
After the first two quarters of inventories, the demand for smart phones in China recovered in the second quarter, especially in the low-end models. Huawei, the top three mobile phone brands in China, and OPPO and Vivo launched new machines to attack market opportunities. Taiwan factory, the biggest benefit is the mobile phone chipmaker MediaTek. In the 4th quarter of last year, the Helio P23 chip was gradually regaining its market share. It can be seen that the mid-to-low-end models are showing strong recovery. MediaTek’s main focus is on the P60 chip, which has been gradually recaptured by important customers such as OPPO and Xiaomi. The industry expects that MediaTek’s shipments of mobile phone chips in the second quarter will increase significantly, and it expects to see more than 100 million units shipped in this quarter. Gross margin is also expected to rise back to above 37% quarter by quarter.
MediaTek layouts the ducks for the automotive and Internet of Things areas. Although the current revenue share is not as good as mobile phone chips, MediaTek has invested 10 billion yuan in the research and development of Internet of Things technology, which is the most fruitful of the current IC design community, and Alibaba.com. Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft have established global partnerships and developed several chips for applications such as smart homes and car networking. Vehicle layout, first-in-car communications, entertainment systems, and development of millimeter-wave radars are well under way. In 2017, we have been developing products with the depot. We will continue to develop new products in the first wave of customers in 2018, and benefits will gradually emerge.
In addition, the recovery in China’s mobile phone demand has also driven the rapid shipment of mobile fast-charging chips, including Onpo-KY, Jiatong, Weiquan Power, Shengqun, and Lingtong, which are worth looking forward to in the second quarter.