The automotive electronics market is windy
According to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, my country's new energy vehicle shipments reached 3.521 million in 2021, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year, exceeding half of global shipments. China Resources Micro predicted at the World Semiconductor Conference that by 2025, the global new energy vehicle will reach about 18 million, and China's new energy vehicle shipments will exceed 9 million.
Picture | my country's new energy vehicles sales in previous years, information source: China Association of Automobile Manufacturing Association
Automobile Intelligence, according to data released by Gaogong Intelligent Automobile Research Institute, the standard new car loading rate of my country's ADAS front-mounted ADAS standard new car in 2021 is about 39.6%, and the standard new car loading rate of L2 is about 19.4%, of which the L2+ loading rate is about 8.3%; the L2 function loading rate from January to May 2022 will reach 25.5%. PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that the loading rates of L3 and above in China's L3 and above will reach 11% and 34% respectively in 2030 and 2035. Driven by the electrification and intelligence of automobiles, the chip loading rate of each car is increasing from 500-600 in traditional cars to 5,000-8,000 in the current magnitude, and the magnitude continues to rise.
However, in sharp contrast to the demand side is the self-sufficiency rate of automobile electronics in my country. According to data released by semiconductor research agency IC Insights, the value of semiconductors manufactured in mainland China in 2021 was US$31.2 billion, and the chip consumer market in mainland China was US$186.5 billion, with a self-sufficiency rate of 16.7%; , and in the automotive track with severe chip shortage, the chip self-sufficiency rate in mainland China in 2021 was only 5%. This is an opportunity and a challenge for local manufacturers to enter the automotive electronics market. The opportunity lies in the large enough domestic demand market, and the challenge lies in the high threshold for entering the automotive electronics market.
Based on the above background, I interviewed , the quality director of Runshi Technology, Yu Jingliang, , with non-net, to discuss the challenges and response strategies faced in the transformation and upgrading of consumer electronics to automotive electronics, as well as the gap in the simulation track in the domestic and foreign automotive electronics field.
Picture | Yu Jingliang, Quality Director of Runshi Technology, is mainly responsible for the rapid upgrade of the company's product quality system
from consumer electronics to automotive electronics. The confidence is the guarantee of technical capabilities.
Runshi Technology About August this year, 5 products of have passed the AEC-Q100 Grade 1 automotive certification , including 3 operational amplifiers RS722P/RS724/RS721P, 1 level conversion chip RS8T245, and 1 logic chip RS1G08. We know that Runshi Technology started out with consumer electronics. In recent years, the automotive and industrial electronics tracks have been very popular, and has moved its products into these two fields.
Figure | 5 products of Runshi Technology have passed the AEC-Q100 Grade 1 automotive certification.
Yu Jingliang said bluntly: "For Runshi Technology, the broader demand comes from the industrial and automotive markets. There are two reasons why chooses these 5 chips to complete the automotive standardization upgrade first. One is that the operational amplifier is the core product of Runshi Technology, which can highlight its own technical capabilities and market value. These three operational amplifiers are very popular, and level conversion chips and logic chips, as well as the analog switches that are later automotive standardized. These types of chips are used a lot in the automotive market; the other is that level conversion chips and logic chips have a lot of space for domestic production."
It is reported that Runshi Technology's total sales in 2021 were approximately RMB 210 million . Among them, the industrial and automotive electronics markets account for 63-65% of the total sales revenue, the consumer electronics market accounts for 8-9% of the total sales revenue, and the rest are the power electronics, instrumentation and medical markets, accounting for more than 20% of the total sales revenue. Runshi Technology predicts that due to the further expansion of automobile and industrial electronics volume and the average selling price higher than consumer electronics, Runshi Technology's sales revenue this year will achieve a scale of 400 million and 500 million.
Picture | Runshi Technology’s product line situation
Why does Runshi Technology have such confidence? On the one hand, the market capacity of analog chips is showing an organic growth trend. Affected by the rise of new energy vehicles and the development of the energy storage industry, the analog chip industry that prefers basic applications is growing rapidly.On the other hand, the main players in domestic analog chips are the United States' TI, ADI, On Semi, as well as some European and Japanese companies. At a time of tension in international relations, domestic chips will have more market opportunities for supply chain security considerations. Of course, the most important thing is Runshi Technology's technical strength, including the ability of a large number of products to pass automotive certification. Only when the time, place, and people are harmonious can it be achieved naturally.
What challenges do consumer electronics vehicles need to face?
From a technical perspective, what challenges does a chip need to experience to successfully achieve the transformation from consumer-grade products to automotive-grade products?
In fact, since it is necessary to maintain normal operation in more demanding environments, automotive electronics have higher requirements for reliability than consumer electronics. At present, the commonly used certification standard in the field of automotive electronics is AEC-Q100. This standard is a set of integrated circuit quality testing standards issued by the Automobile Electronics Association. Although it is not a mandatory certification system, it has now become a general testing standard in the field of automotive electronics. This means that needs to convert the product to automotive specifications, and the most common operation to be recognized by the market is to pass the AEC-Q100 certification .
Figure | Two tickets to enter the supply chain of Tier1 major vehicle manufacturers: AEC-Q+IATF16949
However, it is not easy to pass the AEC-Q100 certification by . contains nearly 30 subdivided certification requirements. Yu Jingliang vividly calls this process a complete transformation of products .
is worth mentioning that the preparation work for the product before entering the AEC-Q100 certification is very complicated. First, it is necessary to ensure that the chip design meets the working ability of high and low temperatures; secondly, the process capabilities of the wafer factory, especially in some special key process indicators, must meet the requirements of AEC-Q100 in order to produce automotive-grade wafers; secondly, the entire packaging process must be redone, and very high-performance raw materials must be used to ensure that the process is stable enough; finally, the test section must be different from the practice of consumer only doing room temperature testing. Automobile products need to further carry out high and low temperature testing, which is a challenge to the testing cost and testing difficulty. For the analysis of test data, such as PAT, SBC, SBL, etc., different management methods are also needed to improve the level of test stability. In short, if a product wants to be transferred from ordinary consumer to automotive specifications, must at least change and prepare for the entire production process such as chip design, wafer manufacturing, packaging design, manufacturing, and testing, so that the products they are made can be sent for certification.
mentioned earlier that AEC-Q100 contains nearly 30 subdivided certification requirements , and these requirements will be divided into different certification groups according to the type of product to be certified, such as: environmental stress acceleration verification in Group A, life acceleration simulation verification in Group B, packaging verification in Group C, chip manufacturing reliability verification in Group D, electrical verification in Group E, failure screening verification in Group F, etc., so as to ensure that the chip can withstand harsh working conditions such as high temperature and high humidity, low temperature to high temperature impact, and at the same time, it can also ensure a 15-year working life, and the process capability index CPK value is much better than consumer electronics. How long does it take to do such a complex process? Yu Jingliang said: "If the chip itself has been used in the consumer or industrial field for 1-2 years and has the ability to design high and low temperatures, it will be considered to upgrade the product in automotive specifications. In this process, considering that the current automotive specification market is quite popular, the equipment purchase cycle may be as long as 4 to 6 months. Therefore, the preparation work mentioned above usually takes one year or more, and then 3-4 months to do automotive specification certification. Of course, this time evaluation is based on the chip itself meeting the redundant requirements of automotive specifications. If wafer modification is considered, the time will definitely take longer.”
Figure | Runshi Technology uses the same model as Tier1 – TI/NXP/ADI company.
. Regarding why chip manufacturers buy expensive high and low temperature testing equipment themselves? Yu Jingliang said: "The current market demand is very strong, and foundries are generally not willing to purchase expensive equipment but their uses are more concentrated in a certain field. Therefore, in order to ensure the production capacity of their own automotive specification products or quickly expand the automotive specification market, Fabless manufacturers will choose to buy it themselves. Runshi Technology has invested tens of millions of yuan to purchase 21 three-temperature testing equipment, of which 5 are already working on the production line. By December this year, 21 will fully enter the production line, and by then, the production capacity of 40-50kk per month will be achieved. "In addition to the above hardware supporting facilities,
is also very different in personnel configuration . For example, in the quality control link, the design, manufacturing and packaging and testing of automotive specification products have very high requirements for the management capabilities of foundries. To this end, Runshi Technology has recruited some very senior foundry management quality engineers SQE and design quality engineer DQE to improve its own technical capabilities and ensure that the product can reach the level of NXP and TI from design to manufacturing.
in the selection of wafer factories and packaging and testing factories , Runshi Technology We chose the top factory cooperation in domestic automotive specification products, including China Resources Shanghua, a fab manufacturer with one of the best domestic analog devices, Tongfu Microelectronics, which has nearly 10 years of mass production experience in automotive specification products with TI, and Suzhou Riyuexin, which has nearly 10 years of mass production experience in automotive specification products with NXP, Anshi, and TI.
Runshi Technology may become the best company in China's simulation track
mentioned earlier that at present, in the domestic simulation chip track, the main players are American companies TI, ADI, and On Semi, as well as some European and Japanese companies. So, how much is the gap between domestic chips and international levels?
Yu Jingliang said: "In the field of analog chips, domestic chips can reach international levels in reliability, and there will be no differences in basic applications, but there is still some gap between the international level in terms of product robustness, which is mainly reflected in the application of special fields outside the parameter table. In addition, large analog chip companies, such as TI, ADI, and On Semi, all adopt the IDM model. They all have their own wafer factories, and their accumulation in wafer manufacturing processes far exceeds that of domestic Fab factories, which is also an important advantage. If we want to strengthen, we need broader market application scenarios and provide more trial and error opportunities. This is a PDCA cycle process. "
In addition, with the expansion of the domestic demand market and the development of domestic semiconductor technology, the number of local analog device manufacturers is also increasing, and competition in the track has begun to intensify. Many people are beginning to worry that if homogeneous competition is fierce, will they face a crisis of reshuffle in the near future?
Regarding this issue, Yu Jingliang's view is: "It is a fact that domestic analog device companies are beginning to become more common, but the simulation market has a wide range of segments, and domestic manufacturers are based on the characteristics of their respective products. The market segments focus are different, including those that are stronger in the field of digital isolators or sensors, and those that are stronger in analog devices such as ADC/DAC. Runshi Technology's main products include two categories: signal chain and power management. Compared with listed companies focusing on the consumer electronics market in the same field, Runshi Technology's market focus is the automotive electronics and industrial fields. In particular, is in the field of new energy vehicles, Runshi Technology has made a layout earlier than analog chip companies in the same field; it has surpassed its peers and become the leader in the field of new energy vehicles.
Figure | Runshi Technology Product Automotive Application Distribution
"At the same time, the market for analog chips is large enough. domestic companies account for not more than 10% . 80~90% are American products, and there is still a very large market space on the road to domestic production. In addition, the market capacity of analog chips is still growing, especially the pull of new energy-related industries, so these local manufacturers have not yet entered a close-knit competition state. is expected to have a reshuffle when the domestic production rate reaches at least 40~50%, and it will not happen in the next three years. " Yu Jingliang added.
Yu Jingliang emphasized: " automotive specifications are a very sensitive market. It has very high requirements for reliability. Many customers have found us because Runshi Technology can provide chips with the same performance as those of TI, ADI, and On Semi. Therefore, we are confident to promote the automotive electronics market and aspire to become the best company for analog chips in China's automotive chip track."
was written at the end
At present, Runshi Technology's automotive specification-grade chips have successfully entered the automotive electronics supply chain of BYD, Changan Automobile, GAC, CATL, Xinwangda and other vehicle manufacturers/Tier1 factories. In terms of the plans for new automotive-grade products, by the end of this year, 20 to 25 products are expected to be transferred to the automotive-grade market; by the end of next year, at least 40 to 50 automotive-grade products will pass the certification and begin mass production, including 15 to 20 operational amplifiers, as well as some logic chips, level conversion chips and analog switch products.
