Silicon Carbide is the basic material for 5G communication and Internet of Things.
Huawei is not only stepping into the steps of self-developed chips, but also investing in companies in other chip industry chains.
Recently, Huawei invested in Shandong Tianyue Advanced Materials Technology Co., Ltd. through its Hubble Technology Investment Co., Ltd., holding 10%.
Shandong Tianyue is rarely known to the public, but its core product, silicon carbide, is the basic material for 5G communications and the Internet of Things.
The official website of the company shows that Shandong Tianyue was established in December 2011 with a registered capital of 688 million yuan. As of June 2017, there were 145 employees. Shandong Tianyue is the world’s fourth mass-produced silicon carbide substrate material. The main products are extremely technically difficult. There are only four mass productions in the world. At the same time, there are two kinds of processes: conductive type and high-purity semi-insulating. Cover 2-6 inches. In 2016, Shandong Tianyue “Wide Band Power Semiconductor Industry Chain Project” was included in the “National Integrated Circuit “13th Five-Year Plan for Major Productivity Layout” by the National Development and Reform Commission.
According to Caitong Securities’ previous report, in the performance of , the third-generation semiconductor materials represented by silicon carbide have higher band gap, breakdown electric field and thermal conductivity. Its superior performance makes it a huge prospect in the application of microwave power devices, and is very suitable for making electronic devices with radiation resistance, high frequency, high power and high density integration.
In the 5G era, the silicon carbide market will maintain rapid growth. According to Yole, a well-known French electronics supply chain market research organization, by 2020, the global market for silicon carbide will reach 500 million US dollars. In 2022, the market size will double to reach US$1 billion, and the compound growth rate in 2020-2022 will reach 40%.
At present, China is relatively backward in this field. Caitong Securities pointed out that Japan, the United States, Germany, Russia and other countries are spending a lot of research, and are currently monopolized by a few developed countries and impose an embargo on China. At present, the global silicon carbide industry pattern is in the three pillars of the United States, Europe and Japan. Among them, the United States is a big one, 70-80% of the world’s silicon carbide semiconductor production comes from American companies; Europe is on silicon carbide substrates, Epitaxy
And the application has a complete industrial chain; Japan is the absolute leader in the development of equipment and modules.
Fortunately, unlike the situation in the first generation, second generation semiconductor materials and integrated circuit industry, which is backward for many years and difficult to catch up with the international advanced level, China’s research work in the third generation semiconductor field and The gap in the world’s frontier is relatively small, and it has accumulated a certain foundation.
Considering Huawei’s external environment and the importance of silicon carbide in the 5G era, Huawei InvestmentShandong Tianyue It is also reasonable.
Recently, the registered capital of Hisilicon Semiconductor under Huawei has also increased from 600 million yuan to 2 billion yuan. The predecessor of Hisilicon was the Huawei IC Design Center, which was established in 1991. In October 2004, it was renamed Shenzhen HiSilicon Semiconductor Co., Ltd., which is mainly responsible for the development and sales of semiconductor products.
The increase in registered capital usually means an increase in the strength of the company and also helps to expand the scale of operations. According to data from IC Insights, a research institute, In the first quarter of 2019, Hays’ revenue reached $1.755 billion, an increase of 41% year-on-year, making it the world’s top 15 semiconductor manufacturers, ranking 14th. In the first half of this year, His will rank 16th with sales of $3.5 billion.
According to Taiwan’s “Electronic Times” report, Haisi is actively designing and developing more chips. The media quoted supply chain sources as saying that HiSilicon’s new product development covers notebook CPUs, GPUs, mobile device application chips, and multimedia display chips.
Whether it is to strengthen internal self-study or external investment, Huawei is gradually improving the security of its chip supply to face potential uncertainty.