1. Why localization of storage controllers?
In recent years, the global memory industry has been fully developed under the influence of market demand. As one of the core technologies of the memory industry, storage controllers are in the process of the development of the memory industry. Its key status is even more.
The latest research report released by CINNO Research shows that 2017 has become the most successful year in the history of the memory industry due to soaring prices of storage products. The report also pointed out that in 2018, DRAM supply will continue to tighten. Can this be met? Is it the highest in history?
However, CINNO Research predicts that in 2018, the annual growth rate of DRAM market will reach 30%, and ASP will continue to rise. The supply shortage is mainly driven by the growth of market demand for servers, smart phones, and digital cryptocurrency mining machines. In addition, the growth of NAND flash memory and SSD is still strong, and the supply of 3D NAND flash memory is also growing. All these factors indicate that the overall value of the NAND market will increase by 20% this year.
Although many companies are buzzing with strong market demand and attractive value in the memory market, memory chip technology is still tightly controlled by Samsung, Intel/Micron, Toshiba/Western Digital and SK Hynix, a few leading international companies. Previously, Tsinghua Unisplendour hoped to obtain advanced technology from Western Digital through multi-billion-dollar acquisitions. It was finally difficult to announce its failure. Since then, Tsinghua Unisplendour has also had to shift its focus to internal R&D.
According to industry sources, with the passage of time, Tsinghua Unisplendour faces increasing financial pressure, and Chinese investors urgently need to see 'results'. Tsinghua Unisplendour is also increasingly aware of the importance of technology accumulation and the current market. Pressure. Therefore, during the transitional period, Tsinghua Unisplendour turned to Intel to cooperate with Intel to obtain wafer supply from Intel, and then Chinese companies packaged it to promote sales in the market.
Storage controller is an essential element in the memory industry
"The link between the storage industry and Taiwan's IC industry has never been more obvious." Sean Yang, vice president of CINNO Research, said that at present, only a few IC design companies in Taiwan are working with TSMC and UMC on wafer OEMs and packages. And other companies have relations. Taiwanese manufacturers are mainly engaged in memory control chips in the memory industry. These fabless design companies have the greatest influence and say in this area.
Although the sale of memory chips has a great influence on the storage industry, since memory chips must work through compatible memory controllers, it can be said that storage controllers are an essential and essential component of the storage industry. For example, SSD as the main flash memory market, you need to pass the controller and flash memory chips to be able to form the final product. In the smart phone EMMC market is also the case, the need for flash memory chips and control chips packaged together through multi-chip packaging technology to work.
Currently, the world's memory controller chips can be divided into: HDD controllers, memory card controllers, UFD controllers, SSD controllers, bridge controllers, and high-end memory controllers.
1.HDD controller is a mature traditional storage medium
HDD controller chips need to precisely control the reading and writing of disks. Marvell Corporation in the United States has almost monopolized this field. One reason is that SSD is gradually replacing HDD storage, and fewer and fewer manufacturers are willing to enter this area. A field, leading to the lack of new competitors in the market. At present, Marvell is the world's largest manufacturer of HDD memory control chips.
2. The memory card controller is the main storage medium in consumer electronics
Since the main interface in this area is divided into CF/SD/MMC/UFS, the mainstream form of SD card is mainly divided into TF card and Micro SD card. The eMMC and UFS of embedded applications are generally used in digital cameras and smart phones. Among the mobile phones, SanDisk was once the leading company in this field. At present, the company has been acquired by Western Digital. In addition, Samsung and Toshiba also manufacture and sell controllers and memory cards (including eMMC/UFS modules) in-house.
This market is not just a single controller chip competition, most of these types of controller chips can be purchased in the market from SMI. German Flash memory controller Hyperstone and its introduction of CF controller is still in the industry The market has a very high market share.
At the same time, the manufacturer of silicon in Shenzhen, China, designs and manufactures SD controllers, and Jiangbolong produces memory cards. Previously, silicon and storage chip makers have merged into one microelectronic to deploy more types of flash memory control. In contrast, Huawei Micro Devices focuses on the information security encryption market, and has only launched the CFSC controller. It can be seen that Taiwanese enterprises are still the leaders in the field of memory card controllers.
3. UFD controller chip has been out of the PC market, entering the new data encryption field
The USB interface controller chip is mainly used in USB flash drives. Manufacturers in Taiwan region of China are still the main driving force in this market. Among them, SMI and Group Connect are the best in this market.
In addition to the above two companies, there is another company in Taiwan, Anguo, and a company from Shenzhen, Cibang, which once held a large market share in this market, but are currently lost. Especially when USB 2.0 transitions to 3.0. At that time, previous leaders in this field did not release any products with competitive advantage. Losing market share was naturally inevitable.
In addition, both Suzhou Guoxin and Hua Weiwei are equally uncompetitive in this summer market. Their products are limited to information security UFD applications.
4. SSD controller chip is the next generation of storage star
The current competitive situation of the SSD controller chip is getting closer and closer to the memory card controller chip.
Major international companies include Samsung, Micron and Toshiba, and Seagate and Western Digital acquired SandForce and SanDisk, respectively. These companies used their resources in the flash memory sector and based on this, they acquired controller technology that determines SSD functionality and reliability. These companies also consume a large number of controller chips.
In addition, global SSD controller manufacturers have gradually completed the process from the survival of the fittest to mergers and acquisitions.
Although the SMI currently located in Taiwan, China, is still the leading company in the SSD controller industry, Group Connect and Toshiba are closely following. At the same time, although the previously mentioned Marvell has an advantage in the HDD controller market, it is The SSD market is shrinking.
Historically, the Taiwanese manufacturer JMicron's JM605 controller was once the market leader, but with the company's recent restructuring, it also announced that it has withdrawn from the SSD controller market.
At present, JMicron has stripped its SSD controller business and established a brand new SSD controller company Maxio in mainland China alone. It is understood that Maxio has received an investment from Hikvision.
Hua Weiwei was one of the early Chinese SSD controller design companies. It released the first SATA-2 controller in 2013. Currently, the company still has a large market share in the Chinese market, and it is also able to One of the Chinese chip makers entering the international market.
Several other well-established Chinese chip companies include Shannon, Memblaze and Starblaze. Shannon was acquired by SMI for its outstanding corporate market performance. The other two companies also belonged to the same company. Enterprise market. The products of these companies are located in high-end SSDs and have high exposure in the industry.
Hass also has SSD controller chips, but it is mainly used for internal server and data center products. It does not sell to outside markets. According to rumors, its product performance is very good.
Since the design of the SSD controller chip involves advanced analog circuit design, complex interface protocols, and different types of flash memory algorithms, a fairly mature technology development team is needed, and it is impractical to communicate with a small group of Chinese companies for financing purposes. The flashy technology contrasts sharply.
5. The need for bridge controller chips in portable storage devices
The bridge controller chip is the basis of portable storage devices, which is why they are listed. The market mainly includes portable DVDs and portable optical drives. Small storage servers also need to bridge the chip to connect the motherboard, drive HDD or SSD.
With the support of the parent company computer manufacturer ASUS, ASMedia is currently the leading manufacturer in this field. The company's bridge controller has a stable market in the market. JMicron followed closely, ranking second Hua Wei Micro was ranked third. In 2015, Hua Wei Microelectronics completed the acquisition of Initio Bridge's chip product line, IP and customer resources negotiations, to consolidate the status of its top three companies. VIA (Viacent) will soon be participating in this The competition in a market comes and is working hard for it.
6. Server/Data Center Storage Advanced Controller is a Key Component of Complex Storage Devices
This type of product is mainly used for servers and big data (cloud) storage. It usually needs to provide a hard disk framework to provide excellent read and write performance. For example, RAID functionality may be needed. NVME is currently a hot topic in this market. NVDIMM technology is currently being used to advance the development of the JEDEC standard. There are even reports that NVME is trying to integrate Flash and DRAM.
Unfortunately, this market is currently monopolized by US companies. Manufacturers in Taiwan are not familiar with the server industry. They mainly focus on the PC peripheral markets and technologies. Another reason is that the server market and data center in Taiwan Business does not have much room for development.
At the same time, the server space has also expanded into markets such as fiber optics, storage control and Ethernet. These new storage control structures all require communications technology, and in this area, the American companies PMC and LSI are the main players and lead. TI And Marvell also has a certain position in the communications industry and high-speed chip field.
These companies survived the industry restructuring, such as Microchip’s recent acquisition of Microsemi, Mesona’s previous acquisition of PMC, and LSI’s sale to Avago.
These companies almost completely control the market for high-end memory chips and RAID array chips.
Now that companies in the Taiwan region of China are virtually absent from this market, companies in mainland China have begun to deploy this market. Because China has a large number of fiber optic systems, exchange systems and big data industry bases, there will be good development.
Among them, although Huawei's SSD control chip is not sold externally, it is used as its own storage system component, but it uses Huawei's excellent array chip technology.
In general, controller manufacturers can be divided into two categories.
One of them is a world-class manufacturer with flash resources, such as Samsung. The other is an independent fabless chip design company, such as Silicon Motion in Taiwan, China.
From the following table, we can see that, except for those who have a strong flash memory background, those who can directly manufacture the controller chip. Customers can choose to buy those products from China Taiwanese chip design company.
China's memory controller industry has witnessed a large number of memory controller manufacturers under the background of Tsinghua Unisplendour's substantial investment.
After a year or two, many manufacturers will disappear because of lack of technology. After all, many companies only appear for the purpose of hype.
However, this does not mean that China is lagging behind in this area. For example, Huawei is a company that Taiwanese manufacturers cannot challenge.
At the same time, China's closed market environment also means completely different ways of competition. For example, although Hua Weiwei has been established for eight years, its promotion style is totally different from other Chinese competitors.
Judging from the current situation, while China is still highly dependent on chip imports, Hua Weiwei is one of the few Chinese memory chip manufacturers with international competitiveness.
In addition, this presupposed Maxio is also rapidly releasing its own new chips. Since it is more familiar with the ecosystem in Taiwan, it is more competitive in the eyes of local manufacturers.
China's storage controller chip accelerated localization
US President Trump recently imposed sanctions on ZTE, which in turn stimulated China’s development and realized the necessity of the country’s policy of accelerating the localization of the industrial chain.
Flash memory chips have huge market potential. Therefore, they are highly valued by Tsinghua Unisplendour and the government. It can be said that the future will be bright.
However, it is the controller chip that determines the final product performance and information security, not the flash memory chip. Therefore, the decision-maker must be aware of the importance of the importance of the memory control chip industry, and this is only a matter of time.
In the study of CINNO Research, it was also mentioned that the chaotic international economic environment and industry competition have brought many opportunities for the development of the industry. The development of China's storage industry is promoting the adjustment of the overall supply chain of the market, especially the storage controller industry. It is a rare opportunity for development. Investors should pay attention to the development of storage controller chip makers. (Proofreading/Fan Rong)
2. China's first 5G chip Zhan Rui Zeng Xuezhong: will be launched in the second half of this year;
Recently, the "China Core" popular debate is still ongoing. In response, Ziguang Group's global executive vice president and Ziguang Zengru CEO Zeng Xuezhong said that the next 10 years is the era of artificial intelligence, 5G and AI will usher in an outbreak, technological changes The driving force also comes from the chip.
He stressed that no matter how the economy develops in the next 10 years, it cannot leave the chip. 'If you say that steel is the basis of the industrial age, the chip is the basis of the digital age, the entire semiconductor industry determines the future development of the world.'
According to the "2018Q1 China Chip Industry Market Special Report" published by iMedia Consulting, the output of integrated circuits in China has reached 156.46 billion pieces in 2017, an increase of 18.7% compared to 2016. With the country's emphasis on the chip industry, as well as enterprises, hospitals, etc. Institutions will invest more in R&D resources in the future, and China’s IC production will continue to show rapid growth in the future.
China is currently the world’s largest and fastest growing market. In addition, in 2017, the world's top 10 chip design rankings, Chinese companies have taken up two seats—Zhongguang Zonui and Huawei Hass.
It is understood that from 2G, 3G to 4G and now to 5G, Ziguang Zhanrui always insists on independent innovation. In 2018, Zhanrui launched the SC9850KH chip platform, which is China's first truly domestically-developed self-made CPU chip, and the first in China. The 4G chip platform with its own intellectual property embedded in the key technologies of CPU. At the same time, Zhanrui also introduced the first 8-core artificial intelligence chip platform SC9863, which reduces the threshold for mass consumers to enter 5G and AI.
Zeng Xuezhong said that chip design is the top of the entire chip industry. Its contribution to the industry is 1 to 10 to 100. The 1 dollar chip can shake the industry's value of 100 yuan. This is why chip design is used as an integrated circuit. The importance of the industry leader. The world is flat and parallel. The future global semiconductor market should develop in parallel. You have me, you have me, and the world is integrated.
It is reported that this year Zhanrui started the 'Global Leading Strategy for 5G Chips' in the R&D of 5G, and has successively reached strategic cooperation with China Mobile, Intel, Huawei, Keysight Technologies, Rohde & Schwarz, and plans to launch the first in 2018. 5G chip, the first 5G mobile platform for commercial use in the second half of 2019, will be launched in sync with the deployment of 5G mobile networks. Tencent Technology
3. Chongqing Wanguo 12-inch power semiconductor chip project trial production;
On June 1, Chongqing Wanguo Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd. held a trial launch ceremony for the 12-inch power semiconductor chip trial production. Chongqing Wanguo Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd. was owned by American AOS International Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd., Chongqing Strategic Emerging Industry Equity Investment Fund and Chongqing Liangjiang New District. Strategic emerging industries equity investment funds co-funded and formed.
The project includes two major parts of wafer manufacturing and packaging testing. Construction began on February 12, 2017. On January 22, 2018, the sealing and measurement plant began to move into the equipment and installed it. On March 15, the wafer fab began to move into the equipment and installed it. At present, the company has begun trial production at the pre-production stage, and the fab will also begin trial production in the third quarter. It is expected that all projects will be fully completed by the end of this year and will be put into production. The first phase of the project is expected to produce 20,000 chips per month and 500 million for packaging and testing. The chip will have an annual output value of 400 million U.S. dollars. In the second phase, it is expected to produce 50,000 chips per month, and 1.25 billion semiconductor chips will be packaged and tested. The annual output value will reach 1 billion U.S. dollars.
AOS International’s Chairman and CEO, Zhang Fuxing of Chongqing Wanguo Semiconductor stated in his speech that Chongqing Wanguo Semiconductor’s 12-inch power semiconductor chip and package testing project started from February 12, 2017, lasted 16 months. With AOS superior Technology and mature products, Chongqing Wanguo Semiconductor will be built into a world-class power semiconductor company.
AOS International Semiconductor also held the 'AOS Technology Communication Summit Forum' in Chongqing. Zhang Fuxing gave a detailed introduction to the role of power semiconductors in the green energy conservation industry in the keynote speech. He also stated that AOS will take up corporate social responsibility. , Advancing the development of power semiconductor technology. IGBT inventor Professor B Jayant Baliga, T Paul Chow, tenured professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA, was specially invited by the organizing committee to attend the forum and delivered a special lecture. China Electronics News What is the driving force behind China's IC design, packaging and testing, and manufacturing in 4.2018?
According to the latest statistics from the China Semiconductor Industry Association, China’s IC industry maintained rapid growth in the first quarter of 2018. Sales from January to March in 2018 were 115.29 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.8%. The industry grew by 22% year-on-year, with sales of 39.45 billion yuan. The manufacturing sector increased by 26.2% year-on-year, with sales of 35.59 billion yuan. The packaging and testing industry achieved sales of 40.25 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.6%.
According to the development goals clearly stated in the “Outline for Promoting the Development of the National IC Industry”, China’s IC industry increased by 21.0% and 22.0% respectively in 2017 and 2018, and the industrial scale reached 525 billion yuan and 640 billion yuan respectively. By 2020, it will be comprehensive. To achieve the national 13th Five-Year Plan for integrated circuit development, the industrial sales volume reached 930 billion yuan.
It is understood that the total size of the domestic integrated circuit industry reached 541.13 billion yuan in 2017, an increase of 24.8% year-on-year. Among them, the integrated circuit design industry grew by 26.1% year-on-year, reaching a scale of 207.35 billion yuan; the integrated circuit manufacturing industry grew 28.5% year-on-year, reaching a scale of 1448.1 Billion; IC packaging and testing industry increased by 20.8% year-on-year, with a scale of 188.97 billion yuan.
It can be seen that the development of China's integrated circuit industry in 2017 has achieved the development goals set forth in the “Outline.” According to the current development trend of the industry, the 2018 development goal will not be difficult to achieve.
IC design industry
According to the forecast of DIGITIMES, the revenue (output value) of the IC design industry in Mainland China is expected to reach around 37.5 billion U.S. dollars (about 240.817 billion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 26.20%.
In 2018, the main driving force for the growth of IC design industry in Mainland China: 1. In 2017, the sales revenue of integrated circuit design industry in mainland China was RMB 207.35 billion, which was a 26.1% year-on-year increase. The company has a basis for rapid development. More than 1,380 companies, including: Hass, ZhanRui has entered the world's top ten companies: Another ZTE, Huada Semiconductor, Nanruizhixin, Core Semiconductor (Beijing Sicheng), Datang Semiconductor, Beijing Zhaoyi Nine companies, such as Innovation, Technology, and Ruixin Micro entered the top 50 global IC design companies at the same time. In the Chinese mainland market, there are 191 companies with integrated circuit design companies whose sales exceed 100 million yuan, accounting for the total number of enterprises. 13.8%, overall strength has improved. 2. Driven by smart phones and other communication applications, China's IC design industry is driven by the domestic demand market. After a 9.0% growth in 2017, it is expected to grow by 6.5 in 2018. %. 3, In 2017, the number of smartphone shipments in Mainland China was about 676 million units, which is likely to decline in 2018. However, with the support of domestic domestic operators, growth is expected to be achieved. 4. Except for communication applications, including Internet of Things (IoT) ), Artificial Intelligence (AI), fingerprint identification and the expansion of the consumer market will bring new development opportunities and dividends to China's IC design industry.
IC packaging and testing industry
According to the forecast of DIGITIMES, the output value of integrated circuits for ICs in Mainland China is expected to exceed US$30 billion by 2018, reaching US$33.3 billion (approximately RMB213.286 billion), an increase of 19.20% over the same period of last year.
In 2018, the main reason for the growth of the integrated circuit packaging and testing industry in mainland China was due to the rapid growth of the domestic semiconductor market, and the expansion of production capacity based on the local packaging and testing plants. The high-tech spillover effect achieved through mergers and acquisitions was fermented. The leading local companies (Changji Electronics, Tongfu Microelectronics, Tianshui Huatian) accounted for more than 20% (25%) of the total value of revenue for the first time, and the industry concentration increased. In 2017, Changjiang Electronics ranked third in the world, Tianshui Huatian ranks sixth, Tongfu Wei potential ranks seventh, and in 2018 it will rise to a higher level.
IC Manufacturing
In addition, the IC manufacturing industry will also grow rapidly. The investment hotspots in 2018-2019 will continue to be dominated by wafer foundry and memory; major investment projects, including SMIC, Ziguang Group, Huali Microelectronics, Wuhan Mainland Chinese companies such as storage technology, as well as semiconductor makers such as Intel, Samsung, TSMC, SK hynix, UMC, Powerchip and Globalfinity announced their respective investment plans in mainland China. By 2020, China’s chip manufacturing industry Expect to exceed the packaging test industry.
In terms of wafer process progress, SMIC's 28nm process has entered into OEM production in 2017. In the first half of 2018, SMIC has made new breakthroughs in 28nm technology and yield, expanding its customer base; 2018 1H8 inch OEM prices will increase Hua Hong’s performance by 13.5%, while Shanghai Huali Microelectronics will become the second domestic 28nm process foundry in 2018; SMIC's 16/14nm process will enter volume production in 2019 .