From June 22 to 23, 2024, the 3rd IC Nansha Conference hosted by IC Research was held in Nansha, Guangzhou. With the theme of "New Quality Productivity and Nansha Core Power", the conference brought together experts and scholars from all walks of life in the semiconductor industry, representatives of domestic and foreign enterprises, etc., to discuss the development trend and future opportunities of the integrated circuit industry.
Meng Feng, Chairman of Qualcomm China, was invited to attend the conference and delivered a keynote speech entitled "Making Intelligent Computing Everywhere". He emphasized that the development of AI and 5G has brought new market increments and innovation opportunities to the semiconductor industry. Qualcomm will continue to promote the development of 5G, AI and other technologies, and work closely with industry partners to support ecosystem innovation and jointly promote the prosperity of the semiconductor industry.
Qualcomm China's Chairman Meng Feng delivered a keynote speech at the 3rd NANSHA Conference
The following is a transcript of the speech:
Distinguished leaders, experts, and colleagues in the integrated circuit semiconductor industry, distinguished guests, good morning. I am very happy to come to Nansha again to participate in the IC NANSHA conference of IC Research. Every time I come here, I can deeply feel the progress made by Nansha in the integrated circuit and semiconductor industry, and more and more manufacturers have achieved better development in Nansha.
At the same time, I also see that as a communication platform between the industry and the government, the IC NANSHA conference of IC Research has attracted more and more colleagues in the integrated circuit semiconductor industry to participate in the exchange. So I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to share some of my thoughts with you today. As the world's leading technology company in mobile computing and mobile connectivity, how will Qualcomm see the future opportunities for integrated circuits, especially with the rapid development of 5G and artificial intelligence, we see a broader development prospect in these industries.
When it comes to 5G and artificial intelligence, in fact, at the 2021 Shanghai International Import Expo, Qualcomm first proposed the concept of "5G + AI empowering thousands of industries". Today, with the introduction of large-scale models and the widespread application of artificial intelligence in the cloud, edge and device side, coupled with the rapid development of 5G technology, we are increasingly seeing the rich development opportunities behind these technologies. These opportunities also bring many opportunities for our IC industry.
Qualcomm is committed to driving innovation in mobile technology and believes that mobile connectivity and computing technology will always be at the heart of our development. We have a deep understanding of the two foundations of 5G and AI, and the interactive development and alternation of technology are leading the technological transformation of many industries such as smart home, smart network, automotive and industrial. Qualcomm will continue to make intelligent computing ubiquitous, accelerating innovation and development in key areas such as next-generation PCs, virtual and augmented reality, and smart cars with leading AI, high-performance, low-power computing, and advanced connectivity solutions.
With the continuous development of AI technology and the continuous expansion of application scenarios, the demand for network connectivity is also rising. As a key bridge between cloud computing power and end applications, 5G enables the processing power of computing power in the entire system to be redistributed in the most efficient way, resulting in a more powerful, convenient, efficient, and optimized AI experience. Therefore, we have always regarded 5G development as the main technical roadmap, which will be an important opportunity for future development.
Mobile communication technology is updated about every ten years, and 5G technology has entered the middle stage of development, and 5G Advanced is also accelerating its implementation. On the basis of the existing 5G technology, 5G Advanced will support more expansion features, such as RedCap for lower-complexity IoT terminals, enhanced industrial IoT, etc., which will enable 5G to be applied to a wider range of industries and scenarios to meet the diverse needs of artificial intelligence, intelligent connectivity, high-end manufacturing, low-altitude economy, marine economy, etc. With the promotion of policies and the joint efforts of operators, equipment vendors and users, many cities in China have entered the 5G-A era. Earlier this month, on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the issuance of 5G licenses, 35 cities and regions, including Beijing, Tianjin, Changchun, Harbin, and Chengdu, jointly held the launching ceremony of "Working Together to Open a New Era of 5G-A", marking that 5G technology evolution and application innovation are being actively promoted across the country.
As a technology enabler in the mobile communications industry, Qualcomm actively works with industry partners to promote the implementation of 5G Advanced technology and application scenarios. On the eve of the F1 China Grand Prix held in Shanghai last month, Qualcomm and China Unicom Shanghai completed the 5G Advanced high- and low-frequency collaborative networking, achieving the milestone of 5Gbps for the first time in continuous network coverage. In addition, 5G Advanced downlink 10 Gigabit, three-carrier aggregation, synaesthesia integration and other technology demonstrations were also displayed at the scene, which laid a solid technical foundation for ultra-high-definition live event broadcasting, XR metaverse, glasses-free 3D and other services.
5G Advanced not only aims to improve the performance and reliability of existing networks, but also lays a solid foundation for the next generation of mobile communication technology, 6G. At present, the industry is actively carrying out research work on the Release 19 standard version, and it is expected to officially launch the promotion of Release 20 next year. This release will include more technical research related to the evolution of 6G, paving the way for future communication technology development.
6G is widely recognized as a collaborative innovation platform that integrates technologies such as AI, perception, security, and more sustainable networks and devices. It will bring users an unprecedented enhanced experience and new use cases. By harnessing the synergistic potential of AI, integrated sensing, and new green technologies, 6G is expected to drive economic growth and achieve society's sustainability goals. It is expected that in 2030 and beyond, 6G will be the key point driving the global technological leap.
Another key technology for the parallel development of artificial intelligence and 5G is of great significance for cultivating and improving new quality productivity. With the rapid development of generative AI technology, various terminal devices are gradually becoming important application carriers. Qualcomm believes that working together on the edge cloud and the device side will help enable more powerful, efficient, and ubiquitous applications, thereby driving the large-scale transformation of the intelligent connected edge.
On the device side, Qualcomm has built a high-performance AI processor designed for generative AI, the neural network processor NPU. We also leverage a combination of heterogeneous processors, such as CPUs and GPUs, for optimal application performance, energy efficiency, and battery life, and by combining NPUs with other processors, heterogeneous computing can power new and enhanced generative AI experiences.
The development of multimodal large models based on image semantic understanding is an important trend. Back in February this year, during MWC Barcelona, Qualcomm showcased the world's first multi-modal large model (LMM) running on an Android phone. Specifically, we run a large language and visual assistant model (LLaVa) with more than 7 billion parameters based on image and text input on a phone with 3rd generation Snapdragon 8, which can generate multi-round conversations based on image input, and has multimodal large models with language and visual understanding capabilities that can enable many use cases, such as recognizing and discussing complex visual patterns, objects, and scenes.
Smartphones are an important area to unlock the potential of AI technology. Counterpoint Research, a market research firm, predicts that generative AI smartphones will grow at a compound growth rate of 83% from 2023 to 2027, with annual shipments of generative AI smartphones exceeding 500 million units by 2027. With its powerful AI capabilities and a number of leading features, more than 20 commercial devices equipped with the top-of-the-line Snapdragon flagship mobile platform have been launched in China, and more new devices will be released in the future, opening a new AI-based upgrade cycle for the smartphone market.
Generative AI has also injected a new growth engine into the PC market, which will usher in a new era of AI PCs. In response to this trend, Qualcomm has released the Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus platforms, which have up to 45 TOPS of computing power, bringing the world's fastest NPU to PC to date. Consumers and businesses alike can take advantage of the Snapdragon X-Series platform's AI-enhanced end-side tools around the clock to boost productivity, creativity, and collaboration for powerful productivity, rich creativity, and ubiquitous immersive entertainment.
Qualcomm has worked closely with Microsoft and PC OEMs including Lenovo, Asus, Dell, HP, Acer and Honor, as well as ISV partners such as Tencent Meeting, Zhipu, Youdao, iQiyi and ByteDance, to launch a wide range of products and applications powered by the Snapdragon X-series platform. These products take full advantage of the powerful performance and AI capabilities of the Snapdragon X-series platform to deliver a superior computing and mobile experience to users. Currently, the Windows 11 AI PC Snapdragon product is already available, providing users with more options and possibilities.
Technological innovation plays a key role in driving the development of spatial computing. Virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR), and augmented reality (AR) technologies are becoming the next computing platform as the convergence of physical and digital spaces accelerates. These technologies provide users with an immersive experience that enables them to interact with digital content in a virtual environment, opening up entirely new use cases and business models.
In February this year, we joined hands with China Mobile, ZTE and Qitian to complete the industry's first 5G Advanced multi-concurrency and large-space XR competitive game business pilot. In a large space of nearly 1,000 square meters, when 12 XR services are connected at the same time, the picture is clear and smooth without lagging, the average air interface delay is less than 10ms, and more than 50 XR users can be online at the same time without backpacks and cables, expanding the XR scenario-based application space.
In addition, the automotive industry is undergoing profound changes. To accelerate the future of connected vehicles, we've built the Snapdragon Digital Chassis, which covers four areas: connectivity, cockpit, intelligent driving, and vehicle-to-cloud, to help automakers create new services and applications. With its powerful performance and numerous innovations, the Snapdragon Digital Chassis has won the favor of partners and the recognition of consumers. More than 350 million vehicles worldwide are currently equipped with this solution, and since 2021, the Snapdragon Digital Chassis has supported more than 50 Chinese car brands and launched more than 160 models.
Based on our long-term close cooperation with China's automotive ecosystem, we are working together to develop intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit and connectivity functions that exceed user expectations, transforming cars into "connected computers on wheels" and supporting "smarter cars" on "smarter roads". At the end of May, Qualcomm held the automotive-themed Eco Conference in China for the second year in a row, and we presented more than 70 keynote speeches, nearly 40 show cars and test drives, as well as more than 60 innovative technologies and more than 185 product demonstrations with many industry partners.
The development of generative AI has had a significant demand driving effect on the semiconductor industry, which will not only further promote the improvement of chip computing power, storage performance and energy efficiency, but also promote the innovation of semiconductor architecture and advanced packaging, thereby bringing new market increments to the semiconductor industry. Therefore, we firmly believe that both the booming generative AI and the second half of 5G technology are opening a new innovation cycle and bringing unprecedented development opportunities to the semiconductor industry. At Qualcomm, we have always believed that innovation is never the effort of one company, but requires the concerted efforts of multiple companies. I am also looking forward to having in-depth exchanges with all of you, promoting cooperation and jointly creating a better future for the semiconductor industry.
Thank you!
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