Rebirth 99 to become a car giant.

Chapter 257 Car-grade chips, this is a huge hole!
Chip Cao Yang must be engaged.

But the chip is definitely not so easy to do.

Even among the tens of thousands of parts on the entire car, the technical threshold for counting chips is the highest.

Regardless of the chips on cars, they are generally much behind those used on mobile phones and computers.

However, the research and development of automotive chips is no less difficult than chips on mobile phones and computers.

This requires a lot of time, energy and money to invest.

The most troublesome thing is that I spent a lot of manpower and material resources on research, and finally got some results...

Then the research results are likely to be inferior to mature chips imported from overseas.

Naturally, few car companies are willing to do this kind of loss-making business.

This has further exacerbated the general low enthusiasm of the domestic chip industry.

From raw material to delivery to customers, a chip has to go through wafer production, which is also considered raw material production.

Then there are chip design, chip manufacturing, packaging and testing.

There are actually many kinds of parts related to chips used in cars.

Generally, it can be divided into microprocessors, analog devices, sensors, ASIC/ASSP, discrete devices and storage devices according to the types.

Microprocessors are actually automotive CPUs, which are basically monopolized by Freescale, Texas Instruments, Infineon, STMicroelectronics, Renesas, and Fujitsu. The market concentration of these giants is as high as 70%.

In the field of ASIC/ASSP, manufacturers such as Freescale, Texas Instruments, Infineon, STMicroelectronics, NXP, Bosch, and Panasonic occupy more than 50% of the global market.

Analog devices and discrete devices are monopolized by ON Semiconductor, Infineon, STMicroelectronics, NXP, Toshiba, and Renesas, and the market concentration of several giants is as high as 70%.

Image sensors, acceleration sensors, and gyroscopes are monopolized by companies such as STMicroelectronics, Sony, ADI, Bosch, Freescale, and VTI.

Among them, the image sensor market concentration rate is as high as 90%, the acceleration sensor market concentration rate is as high as 70%, and the gyroscope market concentration rate is as high as 60%.

Of course, most automobiles do not deal directly with these manufacturers, but trade with component giants such as Continental, Bosch, Denso, Delphi, Hitachi, ZF, Brose, Valeo, and Aisin.

These components are purchased by these parts giants, and even they are purchased through traders.

As a result, various car companies have even less control over chip-related parts.

This is also when chip supply problems start to appear in 2020, and the impact will be so large and so long.

To put it bluntly, the main engine manufacturers have not figured out where the chips on their various parts are bought from.

This is also an important reason why suppliers such as Bosch and Continental can become the only ones in the automotive industry.

Now that Nanshan wants to manufacture ECU and other control parts, this is definitely the cheese of the giants like Bo.

No wonder people reacted so violently.

The ECU, as an automotive-specific single-chip microcomputer, is composed of a microprocessor, a memory, an input/output interface, an analog-to-digital converter, and a large-scale integrated circuit such as shaping and driving.

There are many chip-related parts that need to be used above.

Although it is only Infineon that has started to restrict the purchase of chips from Nanshan Group, it has also made Cao Yang fully aware of the crisis.

Who knows that Infineon has listened to Bosch's persuasion to deal with Nanshan today, and will NXP, Renesas and other chip companies also jump out to engage in Nanshan tomorrow?

Even after more than ten years, when Nanshan becomes the world's largest parts and components company, will the situation become more serious?

Considering these, Cao Yang's emphasis on the semiconductor business department of Nanshan Research Institute has increased a bit.

"Ah Yang, although there are several domestic chip companies such as SMIC that can produce some chips, but up to now, no domestic manufacturer has been able to produce automotive-grade chips."

"Like chips on consumer electronics, everyone is mainly concerned about the performance of the chip, and the requirements for the working environment and reliability are not high."

"The automotive electronics does not have high requirements for chip performance, but has extremely high requirements for reliability, stability and lifespan."

"When we use mobile phones or computers every day, we have more or less encountered crashes, blue screens, etc. The way to deal with them is nothing more than restarting, repairing, and replacing them with new ones, which will not involve life safety issues."

"But if something like this happens to a car, it is likely to cause a car crash and death, and the severity is not at the same level."

"Therefore, the industry generally sets the defect rate of automotive chips at one in a million, which invisibly raises the threshold for automotive-grade chips to a whole new level."

"Let me give you a few specific examples, so that you can feel the requirements for the working environment and lifespan of automotive-grade chips."

“车规级芯片必须在-40℃至175℃、95%湿度、50G的剧烈震动、15至25kV的静电等条件下，保证20年工作寿命。”

Xiang Changle is an expert in the research of automotive electronics and control parts.

Although he is not very professional in the field of chips, he is definitely much better than Cao Yang.

So if Nanshan wants to make chips, Cao Yang must go to Xiang Changle to discuss it.

"Your major has nothing to do with semiconductors, so you may have no idea about humidity and static electricity."

"Then I will use the most easy-to-understand temperature to explain, and you will know after comparing."

Xiang Changle saw that Cao Yang was listening carefully, and recorded it from time to time, so he was naturally very active in explaining it.

"Commercial-grade CPUs generally operate at temperatures between 0°C and 70°C."

"The operating temperature of industrial-grade CPUs is generally -40°C to 85°C."

"Certain types of industrial chips, such as oil drilling, can reach 175 degrees Celsius or even higher."

"When it comes to military-grade CPUs, its operating temperature is generally -55°C to 125°C."

"Of course, the operating temperature of military-grade CPUs in some specific scenarios is also as high as 200°C."

"The operating temperature of automotive semiconductors is -40°C to 175°C, which has surpassed general industrial chips and reached the level of quasi-military grade."

"After all, the car needs to ensure that it can be used normally in the cold northern regions, and that the parts will not fail when the temperature in the engine compartment is very high."

"These requirements for automotive-grade chips have led to a very high threshold."

"Some powerful manufacturers, such as Intel, feel that the production of automotive-grade chips is too troublesome, and they use outdated technology. The price is not very high, and they are unwilling to spend too much effort on it."

"Although some chip manufacturers want to get a share of the pie, they are not strong enough."

"This has led to car-grade chips, which are highly monopolistic."

"It seems that there may be seven or eight manufacturers that can produce automotive-grade chips, but when it comes to a certain type of subdivision, it is likely that there are only two or three in the world, or even only one is producing."

"Nanshan Group wants to make car-grade chips, let alone whether it can be done, the various investments in the early stage are very exaggerated."

"Even if it is really done, it will immediately face the competition from the original chip manufacturers. They can make it bigger with lower cost and better quality. No one wants to use your chips at all."

"Even if you Nanshan Group use it yourself, some customers don't necessarily agree with you to use it."

Obviously, Xiang Changle didn't like Cao Yang to make chips at all, and what he made was car-grade chips.

This is definitely harder than climbing Mount Everest.

Regardless of the scale of Nanshan Group, it is not bad, and it has made some money in the past few years.

But it is not enough to make chips.

"Teacher, you are right. Car-grade chips not only have very high requirements on reliability and other aspects, but also have very strict requirements on the price of chips."

"Semiconductor companies must meet the extremely stringent certification requirements of OEMs and Bosch, and must achieve cheap prices."

"This should also be the biggest problem that domestic chip manufacturers have never thought about engaging in automotive-grade chips."

Cao Yang did not directly refute Xiang Changle.

Not to mention that he is sincerely for his own good, that's why he talks so much with himself.

Even what he said is true in itself.

The main reason why Huaxia's car-grade chips are still in a mess in 2020 is what Xiang Changle said.

The reasons behind it are really complicated and difficult to change.

It is the domestic self-owned brand auto companies. On the one hand, they complain that consumers "worship foreigners" and always like to buy cars from box companies at a premium.

On the other hand, they also like to provide control parts to international manufacturers such as Bosch, Continental, and ZF.

After decades of development, some domestic manufacturers that can produce control parts have gradually emerged in China. On the one hand, they complain that their own brand car companies "worship foreigners" and are unwilling to hand over key control parts such as ECUs. Produce them.

On the other hand, they themselves are always staring at chips from Freescale, Texas Instruments, Infineon, STMicroelectronics, and Renesas, and dismiss the domestic chips that have finally developed.

Don't think that the domestic chip manufacturers are wronged, in fact, everyone is not wronged.

Because on the one hand, domestic chip manufacturers are resentful that domestic chip designers favor TSMC technology, and on the other hand, they always purchase equipment from major European and American manufacturers such as ASML, and are unwilling to try to purchase equipment from local manufacturers.

This can be said to be an endless loop.

You can hardly tell who is right and who is wrong.

It can only be said that chips are such a high-tech industry. Now European and American manufacturers have formed a monopoly advantage. If you want to break this situation, you need to pay a lot of effort.

Cao Yang is one of the few people in China who are willing to challenge this situation.

"Yes, either the reliability does not meet the requirements, or the price of the chip is very expensive, and it is not competitive in the market at all."

"Anyway, it's a hopeless result. Who do you ask to do it?"

"So, Ayang, if you want to make chips, the teacher is very pleased."

"With great power comes great responsibility."

"But I still hope that you will think it over carefully, and don't fall into the pit on the spur of the moment."

"At that time, a huge amount of money was spent, and the development speed of Nanshan was delayed, but in the end it was just a mess."

Xiang Changle once again advised Cao Yang to be cautious.

Chips, especially car-grade chips, are a huge hole!
After entering, [-]% to [-]% will be cannon fodder.

"Teacher, my goal is to make Nanshan Group the world's largest auto parts manufacturer and the largest professional equipment manufacturer."

"Although there are still some materials and equipment that need to be imported from abroad, my goal is to achieve true 100% localization in the future."

"If the chip problem is not solved, 100% localization of equipment and parts is a joke!"

"So even if Nanshan doesn't enter this field this year, it will definitely enter it in a few years."

"Since this is the case, it is better to make preparations early, so as to reduce the difficulty of development in the future."

"Of course, I also know that chips are not that easy to make, and I don't expect any big results in a year or two."

"In the beginning, I will not invest all Nanshan's funds in this field, but will do some technical accumulation first, and slowly make preliminary development preparations."

Xiang Changle is so considerate of himself, Cao Yang naturally won't let it go.

Anyway, there is no harm in telling Xiang Changle about my own thoughts.

Even if it spreads, it doesn't matter.

"You really want to make chips?"

Xiang Changle was silent for a moment, then asked again.

"Yes!"

"I have decided!"

For Cao Yang, money is no longer the main object of pursuit.

With Nanshan's current scale, the annual profit of billions is enough for his personal squandering.

Earning more money does not make much difference in personal consumption.

And as a reborn person, there are naturally some pursuits.

I have worked as an engineer in the automotive industry in my previous life, and I have personally experienced that in the short-term period of chips, OEMs "begged" manufacturers such as Bosch and Continental for guarantees, and even skipped parts suppliers directly, and competed with Infineon, NXP and other chips The manufacturer contacted, hoping to get some more things to tease the supply.

Even the Warwick company in Shencheng next door, because of the chip problem...

Cao Yang has a premonition that if Nanshan Group really develops and grows to become the world's largest auto parts company and equipment company, then Nanshan Group may experience what happened to Huawei in the previous life.

That being the case, it is even more necessary to make chips by yourself.

In order to avoid the situation of being stuck in the neck, I can only kneel down and kowtow.

That would be too embarrassing.

"If you have to engage in chips, then I suggest you follow the Fabless model first."

"Ok?"

After all, Cao Yang is not a chip professional, so he didn't react for a while.

Looking at Cao Yang's reaction, Xiang Changle knew that he didn't understand.

So I said again: "20 years ago, chip design, manufacturing, packaging and testing were generally completed independently by the same company. This model is called the IDM model."

"The early Texas Instruments, Infineon, STMicroelectronics, NXP, etc. all implemented the IDM model, and today the typical representative of this model is Intel."

"However, the threshold for this model is too high, and the investment is very large, so it started to change in the 80s."

"This new model is a model in which design and manufacturing are undertaken by different companies."

"The Fabless design company without its own factory and a chip foundry manufacturer like TSMC that specializes in providing semiconductor production services, the relationship between the two is similar to the editing and printing in a magazine."

"Compared with the IDM model, the biggest advantage of this division of labor is that it greatly reduces operating costs."

"So many companies that originally had the IDM model have transformed into the Fabless model."

"Even established companies like AMD and IBM are selling off their chip factories one after another."

"Nanshan wants to make chips. I suggest that you don't build a chip factory yourself. The investment is too large, and it is difficult to form a technological advantage, and there is even no hope of forming a technological advantage."

Xiang Changle gave Cao Yang a reference in a very positive tone.

On this point, Cao Yang didn't say anything.

He was engaged in a chip factory as soon as he came up. He was not out of his mind, not crazy!

"Teacher, what you said is very reasonable, then Nanshan will start with chip design first!"

Seeing that Cao Yang accepted his proposal, Xiang Changle breathed a sigh of relief, and then continued: "Even if it is chip design, I suggest you find some manufacturers to cooperate with."

(End of this chapter)