Internet of things landing to promote China's semiconductor industry

The past 2014 has accelerated the landing and popularity of the global Internet of Things. Connecting through wireless networks has gradually become mainstream. In the next five years, there will be more than 50 billion terminals connected to each other globally and entering a new era of the Internet.

However, in the entire chip industry, which has always been regarded as a "high capital industry," RF front-end chips are still facing some challenges as a key part of mobile network connectivity.

It is understood that the current mainstream manufacturing materials for RF devices are gallium arsenide, and the cost of RF components is high. Many manufacturers are looking for more cost-effective solutions. The CMOS process using silicon as a raw material has attracted people's attention. In 2014, Huawei, Spreadtrum, Lianxin and other domestic mobile communication chip makers made frequent use of new technology, which effectively supported the development of the local chip industry in China. There are also many foreign companies in China that use their expertise to stay in China. Snatch cake.

Not long ago, RFaix, a company specializing in the design and development of RF semiconductor products, set up a FAE laboratory in Taipei, China to provide more timely and efficient support for Taiwanese design teams to quickly implement low-cost Internet of Things applications. In addition, RFaxis's FAE laboratory in Shenzhen, China has been operating for more than a year.

In the area of ​​Internet of Things, this California company with only seven years of entrepreneurial history is regarded as a “dark horse”. RFaixs uses the bare-chip (CMOS) technology to develop the world's first RF front-end integrated circuit to provide wireless network radio frequency. The solution makes it possible for IoT sensor nodes to be priced below $1. With the advantages of high integration, high performance, low cost, and good superconductivity of RF devices, chip cost is reduced, application development is simpler for manufacturers, and system cost is also changed from high to low.

In the face of this “dark horse” with innovative technology, the reporter recently interviewed Qian Yongxi, Vice President of Market and Application Engineering of RFaxis. He believes that the Chinese semiconductor industry is welcoming the arrival of the second wave. “The Chinese market has been a key target of RFaxis since its inception. China has decided to give over 170 billion U.S. dollars in policy funding to the chip industry in the next 5 to 10 years. This environment will inevitably lead to electronic communications, wireless technologies, smart phones, etc. The emergence and development of a large number of new semiconductor chip manufacturers. The biggest benefit among them is the Internet of Things."

People dialogue

Reporter: We know that RFaxis and other fabless semiconductor suppliers are also involved in the field of wireless communications. In contrast, how does RFaxis target China (including Taiwan) and the Asia Pacific market?

Qian Yongxi: RFaxis's RF front-end products mainly target WiFi and the Internet of Things. WiFi products are roughly divided into Netcom and smart phones. No matter what kind of products, China (including the mainland and Taiwan) market is rapidly becoming our main battlefield. This point is that our competitors are the same.

Reporter: The development of the Internet of Things has brought opportunities for overlapping development to many emerging industries. What are your strategic considerations for the development of RFaxis in China? In China, there are no shortage of excellent and powerful local companies like Actions. How do you view the development of China's semiconductor industry?

Qian Yongxi: China's semiconductor industry should say that it is welcoming the arrival of the second wave. The foundry industry chain represented by SMIC and Huahong Hongli has become increasingly mature. The semiconductor packaging and testing industry headed by Chang Electric has also been ranked in the international arena.

China has decided to give China's chip industry 170 billion U.S. dollars in policy financial support in the next 5 to 10 years. All these big environments will certainly lead to the emergence and development of a large number of new semiconductor chip manufacturers such as electronic communications, wireless technologies and smart phones. The biggest benefit is the Internet of Things. Because this market is rising, it is just in the ascendant.

The Internet of Things must be developed vigorously and the cost must be greatly reduced. RFaxis's pure CMOS RF front-end solution should play a pivotal role in this regard.

Reporter: At present, the wireless chip process is mainly made of gallium arsenide, which has high cost and low production capacity. How to look at this "high cost and low capacity" problem?

Qian Yongxi: In 2013, the global foundry market for GaAs was less than US$1 billion; in contrast, the wafer foundry market for silicon technology was 43 billion, which is 50 times. Therefore, it is very difficult to fundamentally solve the problem of the supply chain of radio frequency products, such as mobile phone amplifiers, relying on GaAs. Of course, the high frequency performance of gallium arsenide is unquestionable.

It took us 5 years to develop CMOS RF products that are comparable to GaAs, and we can see that replacing GaAs with CMOS is not an easy task. However, since it has already begun, I am afraid that this trend will not go back.