once "financed" to support the early ARM team, and strongly recommended that TSMC establish EUV technology...
This company is Apple company .
The American Apple Company, established in 1976, "provides money" , and the British Aikon Company, established in 1978, which "provides people" , joined forces with another "providing technology" VLSI company, and jointly founded ARM in the fall of 1990. .
Putting aside the early iPhone 3G S equipped with the ARM architecture chip supplied by " Samsung ", Apple launched "poaching people everywhere" After forming a chip team, it released the iPhone 4 series in 2010 and opened the A4 processor " Start "self-developed ARM chip of !" ...
In addition, as MacOS is adapted to the ARM architecture M series chips, Apple "Old Line" Mac computer products have also completed self-research after experiencing IBM chips, Motorola chips, and Intel chips "three generations of core replacement" During the "Chip Dynasty" period...
It has been thirty years since ARM was established in 1990 and improved the ARM architecture Apple's "own" ecosystem.
Then, Canon and Nikon and other Japanese lithography machine equipment manufacturers and the semiconductor field basically "have no hope" on EUV technology (Extreme Ultra-violet: extreme ultraviolet lithography ). Apple "strongly recommends" TSMC to conduct EUV research and development!
teamed up with two other companies to assist ASML in launching lithography equipment. TSMC took the lead in deploying "first-generation EUV" lithography machines and started process technology. TSMC "the largest customer" ...
In summary, the fact to be pointed out is: Apple is quite powerful in terms of strategic "forward-looking" and R&D strength!
Even if it is as strong as Apple, there is still "Dàn" that is held by Qualcomm : the 5G baseband chip that is compatible with 4G/3G/2G!
was once ridiculed as the Intel of Apple "old Qing" . It launched the 4G baseband chip and won Apple's favor. At least the iPhone 7 series came up with the "dual baseband chip" strategy, trying to "offset" The monopoly of Qualcomm 4G baseband chips ~
Even, there are reports that Apple "limited" Qualcomm 4G baseband performance, "balanced" Intel 4G baseband incident with slightly worse performance.
Helplessly, the project research and development of Intel's 5G baseband chip "stalled" at that time...
Some technology information analysts believe that Apple just released the iPhone 11 series in 2019 "4G flagship" , it is likely to be related to the two factors of Intel "pushing the hips" research and development progress and the unbearable "surrender" to Qualcomm~.
With the foreshadowing of the content mentioned in the "previous article" and the confidence of "Apple fans" users, a very loud "Apple should develop its own 5G baseband chip" was shouted out!
In fact, Apple really did that:
First, it spent more than 1 billion US dollars to "take over" Intel's 5G baseband R&D team, and second, it invested massive R&D resources in core levels such as 5G technology patents.
Previously, Qualcomm in the United States had serious "worries": the 2023 iPhone 15 (name postponed) may only 20% share of the baseband chip "lost" to Qualcomm!
Time has entered the end of June 2022. Ming-Chi Kuo, a well-known analyst who has long been regarded as a "little expert" in Apple product information, has publicly dropped a piece of news that can be regarded as "heavyweight" to the industry:
There is no shortage of money, no shortage of people, and no shortage of TSMC OEMs, but 5G baseband chips and Apple’s self-research failed!
According to the progress disclosed by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, at least the 2023 iPhone 15 series (name postponed) will still " rely on 100% procurement of " Qualcomm Snapdragon X series 5G baseband... instead of the 20% share that Qualcomm was "worried about" before !
In fact, there are really only a handful of companies in the industry that can develop "high-performance 5G baseband chips" :
Among China's major scientific research companies, we have previously "struggled" with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X series 5G baseband. The top rival is Huawei Technology HiSilicon's Baron series baseband chips (with Kirin SoC currently unable to be mass-produced, that's a story later)
Another mainstream "Chinese enterprise" entry-level player is Huawei Technology Former senior executive Chu Qing led the team to achieve a breakthrough (and then was inexplicably eliminated) Unisoc Zhanrui , and the "Fa Ge" MediaTek who was often ridiculed "One core is in trouble, multi-core onlookers" "Fa Ge" ... …
Then there is Samsung among the “Korean companies”. Its Orion series processors are equipped with the self-developed 5G baseband of “Xie Xie”~
To a certain extent, it has a baseband chip that can perform high-performance data performance and high-precision core algorithms. , it is basically the technical arena of "China, the United States and South Korea" companies ~
There may also be "Fruit Fans" Users are not convinced: At least 3 "Chinese companies" including Huawei technology can do it, And Qualcomm, which is a "American company" like Apple, has a place. Why can't Apple, which is "not short of money and not bad of people"?
What you need to understand is that Huawei Technologies is the industry leader in the ICT (information and communications technology: information and communications technology; ICT for short) global market!
Around 2000, Qualcomm sold its "feature phone" business to Japan's Kyocera and its telecommunications equipment business to Sweden's Ericsson. Afterwards, the key areas of acquisition + R&D were also in the field of cellular mobile network communication technology!
To put it bluntly, Apple started from "computer equipment", does not have that "egg"... In other words, does not have a "diamond" ~
Apple can spend huge sums of money "collecting" top chips from around the world R&D experts can use the ARM core architecture instruction set to "develop" A-series and M-series high-performance chips, but Apple cannot rely on to "spend money" to develop its own high-end 5G baseband chips.
Apple’s failure in self-research proves once again: Huawei is underestimated! Although it is limited by the temporary technological backwardness of the "industry" and cannot continue the mass production of Baron 5G baseband chips, it is still not something that Apple and its ilk can catch up with...
First, involves compatibility with 2G/3G/4G networks For 5G baseband chips, there is no way to "bypass" the "patent giants" such as Huawei Technologies and Qualcomm... The research and development of high-precision algorithm technology is inseparable from the accumulation of communication technology!
Of course, Apple can "pay" to obtain patent authorizations from "industry overlords" such as Huawei Technologies and Qualcomm. Even if the new iPhone with self-developed baseband chips has a "big price increase", there are still "Apple fans" who will keep it secret~
Second, is compatible with 2G / 5G baseband chips of various standards for 3G/4G networks. The basic element to achieve high performance and efficiency is to master the independent core high-precision algorithm technology!
Different from Huawei, which "started" in communication technology, Apple, which "started" in computer equipment, is still very "young" ~
Therefore, when trying to develop its own 5G baseband chip, it is reported that Apple's self-research failed, in addition to proving once again The fact that "Huawei is underestimated", is not crazy about "ridiculing" Apple...
In some technical fields, it is not enough to have money~
Author: Cai Fatao | Today's Toutiao content
