Recently, the United States has included 38 subsidiaries under Huawei on the entity list and has imposed stricter restrictions on product and technology exports: the amendment further restricts Huawei from obtaining equivalent chips developed or produced using US software or technology.
This means blocking Huawei's channels for maintaining development by purchasing third-party chips. includes MediaTek .
First of all, Huawei's self-developed chips are restricted. In order to ensure the supply of its own mobile phone chips, MediaTek has become the best choice (Qualcomm will definitely not do it). Previously, Huawei had placed a large order to purchase 120 million chips from MediaTek.
was once a representative of the supplier who was named "counterfeit mobile phone" , but why has it now become the best choice besides Qualcomm?
MediaTek has been stable in the mid- and low-end mobile phone chip market for a long time, but with the arrival of 5G, MediaTek followed Qualcomm and HiSilicon Kirin and joined the ranks of 5G chips. At the end of 2019, it launched the Dimensity 1000, using the Helio M70 5G baseband and TSMC 7nm process. Dimensity 1000+ is even more chasing Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865 in terms of performance, which is so scary that Qualcomm is afraid to squeeze toothpaste.
Recently, MediaTek launched a new 5G chip Dimensity 800U, which adopts the same TSMC 7nm process technology as the flagship chip, and has an octa-core CPU architecture, aimed at the mid-range market and has great advantages.
Therefore, MediaTek has become the best choice for outside Qualcomm.
From the image of a low-end copycat to the current technological leadership, how has MediaTek transformed along the way? What inspiration can it bring to us?
In fact, MediaTek is an absolute one of the three largest mobile phone chip manufacturers in terms of shipments and market share. In the era of counterfeit phones in 2009, shipments reached 145 million units, surpassing Qualcomm that year, and temporarily became the world's largest mobile phone chip manufacturer.
1997 MediaTek was established, and its main business includes wireless communication, high-definition digital TV, memory, DVD and other products. In 2001, he began to participate in the research and development of mobile phone chips.
MediaTek's first mobile phone chip was released in 2003. The mobile terminal market at that time was also an era of fighting gods. Nokia, sumsung, moto, sony, etc. basically used mainstream chip manufacturer brands, such as Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Infineon, etc.
MediaTek chips are new to the brand and lack awareness, so they naturally cannot beat several major traditional chip giants. Mobile phone manufacturers dare not take the risk of adopting their first chips. MediaTek chips, which were first tested, have not developed smoothly.
entered the high ground of giants: copycat phones were released
In 2005, the mobile phone market was occupied by giants such as Nokia, Samsung, and Motorola. The price of mobile phones is too high. Nokia's cheapest entertainment series N70 is also at a minimum price of 1,700 yuan. Judging from the income level at that time, it was something that most people could not afford, and it was far from being a single one for everyone.
Before 2005, the process from mobile phone chip platform to finished mobile phone products required mobile phone manufacturers to solve it themselves. They either research and develop it themselves, or outsourced a series of processes such as system integration, UI design, application software integration, and debugging to a special mobile phone design company, thus raising the technical threshold.
However, the market demand is practical. The emergence of counterfeit phones has broken the long-term occupation of the mobile phone market by giants, making it possible to have a mobile phone in hand.
In 2006, a copycat machine that integrates calls, videos, music and Internet access functions was priced at less than 500 yuan. The creator of all this is MediaTek .
In 2004, MediaTek pioneered the "turnkey" solution: by integrating multimedia, baseband and operating systems on chips, MediaTek's complete solution has turned mobile phone manufacturing into a man-intensive industry composed of two links: procurement and assembly. How much has the technical threshold for
been reduced?
Some people with junior high school education have added a batch of molds and circuit boards to complete assembly, so that they can build a miscellaneous mobile phone processing factory and generate nearly 10 million in revenue a year.
In just a few years, more than 5,000 copycat machine manufacturers have been born in mainland China.It also includes later big brands such as Oppo, Bubugao, and Gionee. The glory of the
copycat machine continued until around 2009. During this period, MediaTek established its unshakable position in the mid- and low-end markets, but also became a tag that MediaTek could not erase.
new challenges and opportunities
In 2007, a landmark product was born and led the future development trend of mobile phones. Smart phones led by iPhones have broken the feature phone market. At the same time, with the support of the combination of Android system + Qualcomm chips, the rise of smartphones is still unstoppable.
In the early stages of the development of smart phones, international giants still occupied the market for a long time due to their technological advantages.
2011 ushered in a disruptor. Lei Jun brought Xiaomi with less than 2,000 yuan, and since then, the smartphone began to enter the mid- and low-end market.
Xiaomi's entry has broken the market structure of high-end smartphones and feature phones, and has also affected MediaTek's basic market: mid- and low-end chips.
In fact, MediaTek also began to deploy smart phone chips very early.
In 2007, MediaTek acquired a team related to ADI's mobile phone chip product line, and obtained a large number of mobile phone baseband and RF chip technology patents and a 400-person R&D team, making great contributions to the later layout of 3G.
, but it lost its first-mover advantage in technology. The cooperation between MediaTek and Lianxin Technology based on TD chips has gradually broken down. The TD chip independently developed by Lianxin Technology has begun to be commercialized, and the core technology will not be given to MediaTek. At the same time, Spreadtrum announced that it has occupied 60% of the market share in the TD-SCDMA market.
In order to make a difference on WCDMA chips as soon as possible, MediaTek signed a patent agreement with Qualcomm. The patent agreement between MediaTek and Qualcomm stipulates that for every 3G chip shipped by MediaTek, Qualcomm will be able to withdraw 6% of the patent fund, and MediaTek's suppliers must obtain Qualcomm's authorization in advance and pay a US$400-500 USD.
At the end of 2011, MediaTek released the Android smartphone platform MT6573, officially entering the smartphone market. In the following two years, the 3G layout was quickly achieved, with shipments reaching 75 million units.
2G market gradually shrinks, and feature phones also withdraw from the stage. MediaTek has safely saved the market in this transformation, but due to the loss of the first-mover advantage of 3G and 4G technologies, it has begun a period of technical silence for a long time.
high-end market dream
is also a major chip manufacturer, and does not want Qualcomm to occupy the high-end market. With the breakthrough and transformation of the mid- and low-end markets and to stabilize their footing, MediaTek has always been willing to enter the high-end chip market.
In 2015, MediaTek launched the Helio X series, positioning the high-end market, and directly benchmarking Qualcomm's 800 series.
HTC, Meizu, Gionee and others have used X10 on flagship phones, and the price of HTC One M9 has even reached the 4,000 yuan level, giving enough face and opportunity.
MediaTek is eager to sell the high-end Helio X10 to manufacturers such as Xiaomi and LeTV. Unexpectedly, Xiaomi and LeTV both use this processor for 1,000 yuan phones, which makes HTC and Meizu, who sell high-end phones, feel awkward. At the same time, it was soon revealed that mobile phones using this processor had WIFI stream outage problems, such as the Redmi Note series. This is the first time that MediaTek has hit the high-end mobile phone chip field and failed to end .
sells at a low price. "Helio X20's Redmi Note 4
As the successor, Helio X20 not only lags behind its competitors in performance, but also has problems in power consumption, signal connection, etc., and has not been adopted by high-end models of many mobile phone manufacturers.
This ten-core processor should have dominated the high-end chip market, because in 2015 the mobile phone chip process has entered the 16nm/14nm era, while MediaTek's Helio X20 still uses the 20nm process. Since the Helio X20 adopts a ten-core design, the heating and power consumption problems caused by the full opening of ten-cores are not something that the 20nm process can handle. Therefore, the Helio X20 has appeared The problem of "frequency reduction and core locking" is jokingly called "one core is in trouble, nine cores are on the way" .
MediaTek's "high-end" chip even sent away HTC, and Meizu has never recovered from then on.
At the same time, Qualcomm also came here.In Qualcomm's product echelon, it is mainly divided into four levels: the 800 series focuses on high-end, the 600 series is responsible for mid-range, and the 400 and 200 series are dedicated to MediaTek's basic Xiaomi, OV and Meizu.
Xiaomi has always been a loyal fan of Qualcomm, and OV quickly turned a revolution in the face of Qualcomm's brand and price; even Meizu gradually abandoned MediaTek after using MediaTek P25 and X30 processors on PRO7.
's failure to enter the high-end chip market. To summarize, is not as skilled as others and is too hasty. Not only has it not played Qualcomm, it was even surpassed by HiSilicon, which was later entered. On the other hand, the low-end market is pressured by Zhanrui, and MediaTek has to defend the low-end market and ensure the basic market.
5G new opportunity
Since the beginning of the 5G era, MediaTek has successively invested NT$100 billion, which can be said to have invested a lot. In 2018, the Helio M70 baseband was launched, using TSMC's 7nm process, and this time it finally kept pace with the technology.
Now, MediaTek's 5G mobile phone chip layout is very complete. Currently, there are flagship Dimensity 1000 series, mid-to-high-end Dimensity 800 series, and Dimensity 720 for the mid-range market and other 5G chips. Many 5G mobile phones using Dimensity series chips have become hot-selling models and have won the recognition of many mobile phone manufacturers and consumers.
Currently, in the 5G chip landscape, MediaTek Dimensity series ranks among the top. Both Apple and Samsung chips are used at home, so MediaTek is the best choice besides Qualcomm.
Although technically it is still pressed by Qualcomm, the gap is gradually narrowing. It is still the early stage of 5G development and has the advantage. It is another new opportunity when 5G explodes.
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MediaTek's future generations have made a world of powerful traditional chip giants. First, the market share surpassed, and then the technical catch-up, which can be said to be a counterattack. What is it relying on?
is constantly improving with a low attitude. There are four points to summarize:
is market-oriented:
In the early days of its chip business, it relied on its keen sense of mid- and low-end markets to open up the counterfeit phone market and earned its first pot of gold in the chip field. And since then, this market with large shipments has been based on the basic market.
focuses on R&D investment:
The early MediaTek technology is very average, the same as the same as the Show News. However, with the development of Moore's Law, the threshold for the chip industry is getting higher and higher, and the demand for the mid- and low-end markets is also changing. With its continuous R&D investment and technological progress, MediaTek has ensured its stable position in the mid- and low-end markets, and has left a spark to impact the high-end market. MediaTek is not vague at all in terms of R&D investment in .
Industry chain advantages:
MediaTek's peripheral semiconductor industry is developed, is complete, and IC design, manufacturing and packaging are all world-class . This time MediaTek hugged TSMC's thighs tightly and took the 7nm process ride early.
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In this technology-intensive industry, there is a large demand for capital, technology is changing rapidly, and the technical barriers are getting higher and higher. Even Qualcomm, which is now in a leading position, dares not slacken at all. It is becoming increasingly difficult for later generations to join. MediaTek's journey tells us that there are almost no shortcuts to take on this path. It is gratifying that ZTE Microelectronics and Spreadtrum have also caught up with the express train of 5G chips, and Chinese chips are about to be refueled.
