According to industry companies, the inventory of the analog chip industry may have reached a low point. Benefiting from the recovery of the automotive and consumer electronics markets and the rise of emerging applications such as AI, the industry is expected to usher in recovery opportunities.
Analog IC products have a long life cycle and a wide range of downstream applications, and are sensitive indicators of market dynamics.
Global semiconductor trade statistics show that analog circuits will account for 19% of global IC sales in 2023. With the introduction of the "Eight Measures", the policy support for mergers and acquisitions has made the general trend of industry integration, which is expected to further optimize the market competition pattern.
Statista expects the analog IC market to grow to $121.1 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 5%. In terms of application fields, consumer electronics and communications dominate, accounting for a total of 65% of the market share, while the automotive electronics, industrial and healthcare sectors also show strong growth momentum.
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An overview of the analog chip industry
An analog chip is composed of resistors, capacitors, and transistors, and is an integrated circuit chip that specializes in processing continuous analog signals.
The analog core is capable of processing the electrical signals obtained by simulating the natural quantities of electrical parameters, and when the external signals are converted into electrical signals by the sensor, they are processed in the form of analog signals.
Analog chips are not only an interactive interface between people and devices, realizing the interaction between the two sides, but also building a bridge between the real world and the digital virtual world.
From the perspective of classification, analog chips can be divided into two categories: general-purpose and special-purpose.
Among them, general-purpose analog chips are based on standardized design, mainly used in a variety of electronic systems, with a long life cycle and stable market demand. The design performance parameters of these chips are not specific to a single application and can be applied to many different products.
According to the functional differences, general-purpose analog chips can be further subdivided into power management chips and signal chain core chips.
Power management ICs are key integrated circuits in electronic devices that are responsible for controlling the flow of power through multiple power management functions, which have a direct impact on the performance and reliability of electronic devices.
Signal chain analog chips include linear products, converter products, and various interface products.
Dedicated analog chips are designed for specific application scenarios and often combine digital and analog ICs and therefore have high added value.
Typical application-specific analog chip applications include RF devices in mobile phones, PHY interface chips in switches, battery management chips, etc.
According to IC Insights data, the global market share of general-purpose analog chips and specialized analog chips is 40% and 60%, respectively.
In terms of downstream applications, the communications and automotive industries account for the majority of the market.
Analog chip industry chain
The upstream of the analog chip industry chain is mainly semiconductor materials, wafer production and semiconductor equipment; The midstream takes analog chips as the core, and downstream analog chips are widely used in many fields such as communications, automotive electronics, and industrial applications.
From the perspective of business model, the world's leading analog chip companies, such as Texas Instruments and Analog Devices, generally adopt the integrated device manufacturing (IDM) model.
In order to reduce the cost and performance gap, domestic analog chip companies are currently strengthening the ability of the back-end test market and actively laying out the IDM model.
For example, the domestic manufacturer Silan Micro has been able to independently produce ACDC and other power management chips, and with the successful mass production of its BCD process on the 12-inch production line; Silergy Corp. plans to build production lines in Qingdao, including two world-leading 12-inch production lines and one 8-inch production line.
In the field of foundry, some high-performance analog chips still need to rely on international foundries such as TSMC, Eastern Hi-Tech, UMC, etc., but domestic analog IC design companies can also provide market support for domestic wafer factories to develop specific chips.
Diagram of analog chip industry chain:
Source: TI official website
Analog chip competition landscape and leading combing
The analog IC market is large, and after decades of accumulation and mergers and acquisitions in many industries, overseas leaders have formed a relatively stable industry pattern and occupy a high market share in the world.
In the field of analog chips, American companies dominate, with six American companies in the top 10 and a total market share of 44%.
Among them, Texas Instruments has the largest market share in the field of analog chips in the world, and the company's business is mainly concentrated in the United States and European markets. Initially focused on the manufacture of electronic devices and electronic components, Texas Instruments has gradually shifted to semiconductors and has grown to become one of the world's largest analog chip manufacturers, with a global market share of 19% in 2023.
In addition, European companies are also competitive, including Infineon, STMicroelectronics and NXP, with a combined market share of 18%.
Global enterprise market share of analog chips in 2023:
Source: GGII, Donghai Securities, Xingxingcha
On the whole, the analog chip market is highly competitive, mainly dominated by European and American multinational companies, and mainland local companies are relatively limited in terms of market share. Most of the domestic analog chip companies started late, and the current domestic enterprises have a relatively low share of the Chinese market, but they are developing rapidly.
Among the domestic analog chip companies, some consumer analog chip companies performed better in the first quarter of 2024 in terms of revenue compared with the previous quarter, and the fields of industry, automobiles, new energy and communications still need to wait for further recovery.
According to the Global Semiconductor Trade Organization, analog circuits accounted for 19% of global IC sales in 2023. Analog chip companies in mainland China accounted for 27% of the revenue, far exceeding the international level. Major domestic analog chip manufacturers include Shengbang Co., Ltd., NOVOSENSE, Zhuosheng Micro, Weijie Chuangxin, Nanxin Technology, Aiwei Electronics, etc.
It is worth noting that mergers and acquisitions in the analog chip industry have also become an important means for analog chip companies to quickly obtain personnel team expansion and product line expansion. #半导体##半导体芯片##芯片##模拟芯片##科技##财经##长文创作激励计划#
Mergers and acquisitions of analog chip companies and investment in the industrial chain:
Source: Wind, Minsheng Securities
epilogue
Under the combined effect of current policy promotion and market demand, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles is steadily increasing. The electrification trend of new energy vehicles promotes the development of key components such as battery management systems and motor control systems, which are expected to become a new growth engine for the analog chip industry. The market demand for analog chips as the core components of automotive electronic systems is also rising.
In addition, benefiting from the accelerated explosion of applications such as the consumer electronics market and artificial intelligence, analog chips, as the key core track of semiconductors, are expected to fully benefit from a new round of high-speed development opportunities.
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