SSDs have been widely used in mobile terminals, personal computers, communications equipment, navigation devices, industrial control computer systems, enterprise servers, data centers and other products, in consumer electronics, power, medical, aviation, industrial control, automotive, Widely used in video surveillance and other fields. It can be said that SSD is almost everywhere.
However, over a long period of time, the main chip used in the domestic SSD market is almost completely dependent on imports, which poses a great threat to China’s information security. Nowadays, the situation in the SSD market is expected to be rewritten.
May 2018, Jiahe Jingwei and National Science Microelectronics (herein referred to as 'National Science Micro') have introduced the SSD (Guangwei'Yi') series SSD equipped with the GK2301 micro master chip. , And its performance has reached the international advanced level.
Guangwei 'Yi' series of SSD's Chinese elements
Jiahe Jingwei is a domestic high-end memory chip test company, has a memory module factory and set up a memory product laboratory. Jiahe Jingwei independently developed a FLASH, DRAM chip test system in 2017, and launched in 2018' The automatic test program for storing finished products' completely solved the two biggest problems in the storage industry's automated production, and realized the intelligent upgrade of China's storage product manufacturing.
Guokewei is a key integrated circuit design company within the national planning layout, and is also the first integrated circuit design company to receive funding from the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund. It has long been dedicated to broadcasting, television, smart monitoring, solid-state storage, and the Internet of Things. The development of integrated circuits and solutions has previously launched a series of chips that support core NDS advanced security, including H.265 high-definition chips, high-end audio chips, high-end solid-state storage control chips, and high-definition security monitoring chips. Fill domestic gaps in multiple fields to achieve alternative imports.
The Guangwei 'Yi' series SSDs jointly launched by the two parties Product naming, style positioning and packaging design are all Chinese elements. More importantly, from the main control chip, brand operations to manufacturing are all completed by Chinese companies. Storage products are highly localized, and their significance and impact are very significant.
Jia He Jingwei COO Liu Xianting said in an exclusive interview with C114 that the launch of the Guangwei 'Yi' series of SSDs is the result of the joint efforts of the upstream and downstream industries in the domestic storage industry. This will break the monopoly SSD market pattern of overseas brands and accelerate the domestic and downstream linkage of storage. , It is of great significance to rapidly promote the localization of storage. At the same time, this is also an important performance of the National Storage Mission of Jiahe Jingwei and Guoke Micro.
Plug in 'Chinese core' for domestic SSD
Guangwei 'Yi' series SSDs are very well-engineered and have achieved high localization. They have adopted Guoke Micromaster Chip GK2301, built by Jiahe Jinwei Shenzhen Factory.
Among them, the main control chip GK2301 is the second-generation solid-state memory controller chip introduced by National Micro, and during the exclusive interview with C114, Guoke MicroCTO Weekly Soldier stated that Guoke Micromaster Chip GK2301 is fully equipped with independent intellectual property rights , And passed the double authentication of the China Information Security Evaluation Center and the National Cryptography Administration, which not only achieved autonomous control, but also better protected user data security.
In fact, as early as the end of 2015, Guoke Microelectronics released the SSD control chip GK2101, which kicked off the independent research and development of autonomous and controllable SSD control chips.
According to Zhou’s introduction, GK2301, the second-generation solid-state memory controller chip introduced by Guoke Micro, has integrated the SM2/3/4 encryption and decryption algorithm, AES256 encryption and decryption algorithm. Use high-speed SATA 6Gbps interface to communicate with host , Using the verification method to prevent the firmware from being tampered with, multi-level encryption to prevent password cracking, blocking the debug interface and high-intensity encryption of user data, and other means to ensure that the SSD product has both ultra-high performance and high security.
The GK2301 series chips have passed the EAL3 safety certification of the China Information Security Evaluation Center and the stringent tests of the commercial password testing center of the State Cryptographic Administration Bureau, becoming the only self-controllable SSD control chip with a national test and double authentication in China. .
Zhou also emphasized that the GK2301 series chip layout, chip and firmware source code, and company information security and confidentiality construction all passed the stringent security review of the China Information Security Test Center, eliminating the risk of leaks from the source and truly achieving China's core's independent security is controllable.
Break the monopoly of foreign brands
With the upgrading of consumer electronics storage requirements and the emergence of industry storage requirements, domestic SSD sales have shown an explosive growth trend. According to Liu Xianting, In the next 3-5 years, the domestic SSD main control chip market will increase to 50-70 million pieces. However, the domestic SSD market has been confusing for a long time. The production base is mainly concentrated in China, the brand is concentrated overseas, and the main control chip is also overseas. Brand control.
In the past, the expensive foreign brands SSD occupied the domestic market, mainly because both the main control and FLASH came from abroad. The domestic SSDs could not be formed autonomously and controllable, and there was no pricing power or competitiveness.
Liu Xianting said with emotion that for a long time, the cooperation between domestic SSD manufacturers and foreign master chip manufacturers was not equal. The other party either did not open key technologies to us or only specified some product models for us to use, which greatly affected the products. Innovation. Therefore, domestic related companies and consumers are eager to have a highly localized master chip and SSD products coming.
After GK2301 series chips passed the first batch of customers' rigorous testing and production introduction to realize mass production, Liu Xianting thinks that Guoke Microelectronics has already provided complete and reliable domestic SSD main control chips for the consumer and industrial markets. Ability, At present, domestic master control products are the most mature, and the only one that fits the market demand is only Guoke Micro.
The strong combination of the two sides not only broke the monopoly of foreign brands, but also depressed the prices of foreign SSD products and components, ultimately bringing benefits to consumers. Such mutual checks and balances also forced foreign industry chain partners to lower their stance as never before. , The commercial status of domestic SSD manufacturing companies has further improved.
Run opponents in long distance races
As we all know, the chip industry needs a long-term huge investment, high investment may not have high output. In such a difficult market environment, how does GuoKeWei move forward? Zhou soldiers said, 'National Micro has been insisting on creating Unique market competitiveness:
First of all, the national microchip from the project to product production at least two to three years cycle, the pre-National Science and Technology Institute will conduct detailed and accurate market analysis, and strive to define the market and strategy as accurately as possible; Second, in-depth communication with partners and customers, Working closely together to jointly position market segments; Third, long-term accumulation in technology and R&D capabilities. '
According to Zhou’s introduction, Guokewei used more than 20% of the company’s operating revenue for R&D each year, and successively undertook a series of major scientific research projects such as the National Major Science and Technology Project, the National Torch Plan, and the Technical Development of Strategic Emerging Industries in Hunan Province. Hunan Enterprise Technology Center, Solid State Storage Engineering Technology Research Center of Hunan Province and other innovative platforms have accumulated a lot of experience in advanced process engineering and have the ability to rapidly develop and mass-produce SoC chips.
'Without information security, there is no national security.' Soldier Zhou believes that under the national strategy of using information security as the theme, an industrial transformation that uses domestic innovation to achieve domestic substitution is rapidly coming. Storage is important for the entire IT equipment. Components, shouldering the responsibility of data security, it is particularly important to implement localization of storage as soon as possible.
'We are autonomous and controllable!' Zhou said that Jiawei Jinwei and Guoke Micro's SSD equipped with GK2301's SSD - Guangwei 'Eg' series SSD is just a start. We need to be autonomous. A controllable long-distance race outperforms competitors, and the most essential one is competitiveness.
