Domestic 5G RF chips are about to stand up, and it is still relying on a cottage manufacturer to stand up?
In the past two days, Dark Horse has been attracted to this news.
Like you, Dark Horse is also very curious, which cottage manufacturer is so powerful? You must know that even Huawei is kneeling on top of the 5G RF chip.
Before that, let's take a look at what an RF chip is.
The reason why mobile phones can communicate with base stations is to receive and transmit wireless electromagnetic waves from each other.
A series of circuits, chips, components, etc. that are specifically responsible for receiving and transmitting wireless electromagnetic waves in mobile phones are part of the RF system.
Therefore, without RF, mobile phones cannot communicate.
Huawei is stuck on the 5G RF, and more specifically, it is stuck on the filter, which is part of the RF system.
The filter is mainly divided into surface acoustic wave (SAW) and bulk acoustic wave (BAW).
Commonly used in 5G mobile phones is the acoustic wave filter (BAW).
BAW filters are basically the only one in the United States, Broadcom, occupying 87% of the market share, and another American semiconductor company Qorvo also occupies 8% of the market share.
(Picture from: Analytical Investment)
Therefore, because of this, the Huawei mobile phones released now have not been able to support 5G.
The result is now a "copycat" manufacturer to get the 5G RF? That sounds a bit incredible.
In fact, this matter has little to do with copycat manufacturers.
The radio frequency is a domestic company called Weijie Chuangxin, which has also been listed on the science and technology innovation board in the past two days.
If you must be related to the cottage, it is that the founder of Weijie Chuangxin is Rong Xiuli.
Don't know who it is?
I've always heard the language of the day, right?
In 2008, the sales volume reached 21 million units, becoming the most sold domestic mobile phone brand that year. However, it is a pity that the wrong side was chosen in the era of smart phones, and it was also selected twice.
The first time into Microsoft's pit, and then not awake, and then into the pit of Alibaba Cloud, and the fire of Android, Tianyu is not chosen, so that when you choose Android later, the time has passed.
Who else remembers the little wasp of that year?
The founder of Tianyu Mobile is also Rong Xiuli.
Tianyu is also a brand with a head and a face, dark horse is not quite understand how to be regarded as a "cottage" manufacturer, Rong Xiuli is also named "cottage machine godmother".
History looks back at this first, let's take a look at this Weijie Chuangxin, is it really so powerful?
It is the leading boss of the domestic RF front end.
The RF front end is part of the RF system and is responsible for the generation and reception of wireless electromagnetic wave signals as an intermediate module.
(Picture from: PCBA board communication and learning, the blue part belongs to the RF front end)
Like Honor, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, etc. are all customers of Weijie Chuangxin, and Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo, the four mainstream mobile phone manufacturers have also directly invested in Weijie Chuangxin.
Especially on the radio frequency power amplifier (PA), compared with the same type of domestic enterprises, it is a ride.
The RF power amplifier amplifies the weak signal to ensure the quality of the call.
In the PA business, Weijie Chuangxin was also a strong competitor of the chip giant MediaTek, in 2020, MediaTek invested in Weijie Chuangxin, handed over the development of mobile phone PA products to Weijie Chuangxin, and shut down Luoda's RF front-end chip business.
From another perspective, it can be regarded as defeating MediaTek.
It's just that Weijie Chuangxin can't solve the pain of 5G of Huawei mobile phones, and many parts in 5G RF have always been able to satisfy themselves, such as 5G RF switches, PA and LNA and other components, domestic manufacturers Zhuoshengwei, Huizhiwei and so on can be mass-produced.
But it was stuck on the filter.
And looking at the world, in the front end of the RF, Japan's Murata Electronics, the United States Skyworks, the United States Broadcom, the United States Qorvo, Qualcomm dominate.
(Photo from: China Business Intelligence Network)
Even in the most skilled RF power amplifier of Weijie Chuangxin, the three chip giants of Qorvo, Sijiaxun and Broadcom still occupy the vast majority of market share.
In addition to the most skilled business than the giant, Weijie Chuangxin also faces a more serious problem, the operation mode of Weijie Chuangxin is different from the mainstream model of the RF front-end industry.
Like Skyworks in the United States, Broadcom in the United States, and Qorvo in the United States, they can all design, manufacture, and package testing by themselves.
The main design of Weijie Chuangxin is very similar to the current domestic semiconductor industry.
In terms of packaging, it is carried out by domestic Changdian Technology, at least mainland manufacturers, and in terms of wafer procurement, it is mainly provided by manufacturers such as Wenmao in Taiwan and GF in the United States, and the autonomy is worse.
And the trend is now high integration, the filter and PA are integrated together, and the interference resistance is stronger.
But for Weijie Chuangxin, which has a single business and only involves design, there is no advantage compared to overseas giants.
In this case, the technical strength is not as good as others, and how to chase the gap in market share?
All in all, Weijie Chuangxin is not bad, but there are still gaps in technology, supply chain and market, of course, we don't have to be too harsh.
The autonomy of domestic RF chips is not something that can be solved solely by relying on The Chuangxin family, but a matter of the entire industry chain.
Nowadays, Weijie Chuangxin is also on the market, the scale of operation is expanding, the funds will be more sufficient, and more investment in research and development will be possible.
This chip manufacturer with a "cottage" atmosphere may understand the importance of independent technology more than any company.