Full mainstream layout
The answer is Samsung. Do you think the accident still feels reasonable? From the perspective of the timeline, in December 2015, Samsung Electronics established the Automotive Electronics Equipment Division to enter the clarion call. In March 2017, Samsung Electronics spent US$8 billion to complete the The acquisition of Harman International has become a successful assault. It should be noted that Samsung Electronics is the largest and most profitable subsidiary of Samsung Group. The establishment of the automotive electronics equipment division is an integration of the automotive electronics business of the Group. Covers four major businesses. : The first is the onboard infotainment system, the second is the driver assistance system, the third is the interconnected operation system, and the fourth is the electric vehicle drive system. After the acquisition of Harman, the four major divisions of Zhilian Automotive and Zhilian Service become the Samsung automotive electronics business. The important supplements will provide important support for the future layout of smart cars. At 2018 CES, the results of M&A have already emerged. Samsung and Harman teamed up to publish the DRVline platform designed for the Level 3-Level 5 autopilot system.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. In terms of autopilot-related technology, Samsung has intensively invested. From 2016 to the present, it has invested in US-based lidar startups Quanergy, TetraVue, and Innoviz in Israel. It also invested in the startup oculli in millimeter-wave radar. Also invested in the Austrian company TTTech layout car networking technology, Valens, which is known for in-vehicle communication, and Autotalks, which focuses on V2X, are also the targets of Samsung Investment, together with the autopilot algorithm companies Renovo and AImotive.
It can be said that Samsung's series of layouts is intended to be a step-by-step approach to the smart car platform. In addition to the above 'axis' business, Samsung's own battery business and OLED business is also a strong pillar of Samsung Automotive Electronics. Samsung SDI is specifically for electric vehicles. The batteries needed for R&D are planned to continue to add additional R&D expenses on the battery by 2020, and strive to occupy 30% to 40% of the market share of the world's electric car battery market. At the 2018 Detroit Motor Show, Samsung released the latest charge. Technology and high-energy-density batteries are claimed to require only 20 minutes of travel up to 600 kilometers. In the field of OLEDs, Samsung has a consensus on the power of mobile AMOLED panels. The car screen requires a wider perspective and requires new materials. Resisting high temperatures and sunlight, Samsung's focused flexible OLED business will be an important choice for the automotive industry, and will also bring great room for Samsung. Samsung continues to enhance OLED technology, and automotive display is the driving force for advancement.
It can thus be seen that Samsung has already involved all the mainstream 'genres' of automotive electronics in the layout of automotive electronics. Samsung's ambition in the automotive electronics field is by no means simple.
Unmanned 'Acceleration'
While winning the 'unmanned' to win the future, Samsung has also continued to sacrifice and has invested more than 500 million US dollars to develop the automatic driving platform DRVline, intended to become the leader in the automatic driving market.
Samsung is currently testing vehicles using the DRVline platform on roads in South Korea and the United States, up to Level 4. The first product equipped with the new system may be a front-mounted automatic brake lens, and is expected to be put into mass production in 2020. In order to provide a self-driving platform, there is of course an ecology, such as algorithms, radars and sensors. Samsung is investing 100 million pounds in early seed rounds to establish partnership ecosystems, focusing on strategic cooperation in sensors, software, and communications. And set up a £220 million automotive innovation fund for companies that develop autonomous driving technology. The first wave of investment has allowed TTTech, which provides software integration, a lot of profit.
It is reported that the DRVline platform can be customized on demand. Automobile manufacturers can customize or enhance certain functions according to their own needs. The platform function will also increase with the development of automatic driving. For example, the platform's hardware is built around the substrate, carrying 2 Samsung processors can support Level 2 levels; they can also add submodules of other partners to improve platform functionality and processing capabilities.
At the same time, under the sway of AI+ driverless cars, Samsung will unveil the first car-specific chip 'Exynos Auto', which will integrate independent NPU units, meaning that it will become Samsung's first integrated neural network. Processing unit processor. In addition, this chip will integrate LTE baseband.
Deep anxiety
According to industry-to-industry analysis, companies must have a mature cash flow industry and a large investment to incubate future industries. Automotive electronics is the most important transformation since Samsung Electronics was founded. Its success will also determine whether Samsung can continue to maintain its future. Leadership in the electronics field.
Looking at Samsung’s family history, we can see that Samsung is basically a multi-arms joint operation and independent research and development, gambling investment, and desperation, whether it is a memory, a panel or a mobile phone chip. After that, stood at the top of the industry.
Can automotive electronics become the new peak of Samsung Electronics? Samsung has strong R&D funds and patents, and has accumulated deep expertise in the field of mobile phone chips and connectivity solutions. It has Hamann's infotainment system technology and channel advantages, but countless The strength and ecology of the competitors in the shadows are also very strong. Samsung is undoubtedly a short board in terms of software and data. It also needs to be constantly improved. Otherwise, it may miss the opportunity. Last year, Samsung introduced an adapter to allow cars to obtain data, including Vehicle performance, driver habits, and other data, and it takes many years for this information to work.
At the same time, Samsung Electronics is also facing a transformation itself. In FY 2017, although Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. enjoyed a good sales revenue, the revenue growth was mainly due to the increase in prices of memory and panel. How long does this growth dividend last?
After the storage industry experienced a one-year increase in prices and iterations, the major manufacturers began to increase investment. Chinese large-scale manufacturers also participated in the 'killing'. The appearance of 32-layer NAND Flash chips stored in the Yangtze River in China Give China and Japan more confidence in the country and the industry chain. Coupled with the fact that China, Japan, and Taiwan are moving towards OLED, some analysts are not optimistic about Samsung's future. Andrew Norwood, vice president of research at Gartner, said: 'Samsung's strengths are not solid, and it depends mainly on Memory. As China expands its memory chip production capacity, memory prices will weaken in 2018, NAND flash memory will bear the brunt, and DRAM will also decline in 2019. Samsung is expected to lose a lot of revenue by then.'
Obviously, Samsung Electronics needs a new growth point, and automotive electronics will be 'self- bearing'. The question is, can automotive electronics make up for the 'gap' of memory and panels in time?