(From the perspective of things) Why do Chinese mobile phone manufacturers develop their own chips?
China News Service, Beijing, February 26 (Reporter Liu Yuying) The new flagship mobile phone series released by Chinese mobile phone manufacturer OPPO this week uses its first in-depth self-developed image chip, which also marks the mass production of this chip.
Many experts interviewed said that it will become a trend for mobile phone manufacturers to develop their own chips.
According to reports, the self-developed NPU chip on OPPO Find X5, Mariana MariSilicon X, has broken the long-standing synergy problem between algorithms, chips and sensors through DSA’s new golden architecture concept, 6nm advanced process and self-developed IP design.
Before OPPO, Xiaomi self-developed the professional imaging mobile phone chip Surging C1 chip, which was first released in Xiaomi's flagship folding screen mobile phone MIX Fold; the chip specially designed for battery life, Surging P1, was first released on Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro.
In 2021, vivo's self-developed professional imaging chip V1 will be installed in the X70 series.
Why are mobile phone manufacturers keen to develop their own chips?
Wang Bin, a senior analyst at Zhongcheng Think Tank, said that major mobile phone manufacturers began to develop their own chips, and the root cause was that Huawei chips were sanctioned.
The lessons learned from Huawei's chips being restricted have made domestic mobile phone manufacturers enter the market to develop their own chips in 2021.
Self-developed chips are also a means for mobile phone manufacturers to enhance the competitiveness of mobile phones.
Liu Zuohu, chief product officer of OPPO, said: To truly make valuable innovations, the only way is self-research.
At present, the SoC provided by Qualcomm, MediaTek, Ziguang Zhanrui, etc. for mobile phone manufacturers is not a separate chip, but consists of central processing unit CPU, graphics processing unit GPU, digital signal processor DPS, neural processing unit NPU, memory ROM/ A collection of components such as RAM, baseband chip Modem, and ISP.
Wang Bin said that OPPO's self-developed Mariana chip integrates ISP image processing units and NPU computing units.
Mobile phone manufacturers' self-developed chips start with image chips, because ISP, as a module that can process image sensor output data, is easier for users to perceive than other parts in SoC.
Zhong Xinlong, a senior consultant at the Radio Research Institute of CCID think tank, said that Mariana mainly meets the additional needs beyond the SoC's image and photographic computing capabilities, and such image processing needs mainly rely on the NPU.
This time OPPO developed the NPU processing unit, using the method of self-developed IP instead of purchasing IP, so that the AI computing power of this chip reached 18TOPS.
Zhong Xinlong said that in the future metaverse era, whether it is VR or AR, high-definition video cannot be bypassed, and powerful computing power is required to process images.
The self-developed imaging chip is also making a layout for the future.
Through the Mariana chip, it can bring some unprecedented computing imaging experience, such as chip-level 4K night scene video, chip-level HDR video, chip-level APP camera enhancement, etc. These are huge advantages brought by computing power.
Chen Yuenan, senior analyst of Aiji Micro Consulting Business Department, believes that there are very difficult technical barriers in self-developed chips, but the research and development of core chips can provide advantages in the supply chain, reduce the cost of purchasing chips, and the cost-effectiveness of products produced by manufacturers is also higher. Help mobile phone manufacturers to obtain higher profits.
At the same time, mobile phone manufacturers developing their own mobile phone chips can better design unique functions according to the development route of their products, enhance product competitiveness, and attract consumers' attention.
So, will mobile phone manufacturers become an inevitable trend?
Chen Yuenan said that domestic mobile phone manufacturers still have a long way to go to realize self-developed chips from special-purpose chips to general-purpose chips.
But self-developed chips will be the goal of all mobile phone makers.
He believes that the recovery in performance of mobile phone manufacturers in the past two years has given mobile phone manufacturers sufficient funds to carry out chip self-research. At the same time, there are many domestic chip entrepreneurial teams, which also provides opportunities for mobile phone manufacturers.
Wang Bin said that self-developed chips are a long road with extremely high trial-and-error costs. Starting from chips that improve imaging capabilities, and then gradually charting the road for SoCs, can lay a good foundation for the future competition of mobile phone manufacturers.
(over)