5G desire, RF can be expected -RF front -end chip industry chain analysis

As the most certain market opportunity in the next few years, 5G will promote the completion of industrial upgrading in many industries such as communication and electronics, which will have a profound impact on the global economy.As one of the most attractive areas of the semiconductor industry, the RF front -end chip market will benefit the most from this industry upgrade.

At present, the global radio frequency front -end chip industry has a relatively mature industrial chain. The European and American IDM manufacturers have a leading technology. The scale advantages are obvious. Taiwanese companies occupy an important position in the middle and lower reaches of the industrial chain such as wafer manufacturing and packaging testing.The higher requirements of 5G on the radio frequency front -end chip have spawned new technical hotspots such as BAW filter, millimeter wave PA, GAN process PA, and form a new industrial driving force.

The radio frequency front -end chip market is mainly divided into two directions: First, the mobile terminal market. Although the penetration rate of smartphones is close to saturation and the growth rate gradually slows down, the development of 5G development has continued to increaseIn addition, the Internet of Things industry uses 5G to land, becoming another engine of the development of the front -end chip market of the RF frequency.It is estimated that by 2019, the total market size will exceed $ 20 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of more than 15%.600 million US dollars, but 5G core technology Massive MIMO, Micro -based stations, and millimeter waves will be applied first in this market. It is expected to enter the industrialization stage in the terminal market first and take the lead in returning.

1 Global terminal power amplifier industry chain summary

The radio frequency front -end chip market is mainly divided into two categories: one is a circuit chip made of semiconductor technology (GAAS, GAN, CMOS, etc.), represented by power amplifier (PA) and switch circuit (SWITCH); the other is MEMS using MEMSThe filter manufactured filter is represented by sound surface wave filter (SAW) and body sound wave filter (BAW).

For a long time, the terminal power amplifier has always occupied the highest share of the entire RF front chip market, and it is also the most important growth driving force. With its advantages in working frequency, efficiency, linearity, etc.The mainstream craftsmanship has established a complete and mature industrial chain globally, as shown in Figure 1.

The chip design is located at the top of the mobile terminal power amplifier industry chain. On the one hand, the company must apply the cutting -edge circuit technology to the chip design to improve product performance.It complements the market performance and is indispensable.In addition, the chip design industry has a long product R & D cycle and high R & D cost. It is a combination of capital -intensive and technical dense enterprises. These characteristics determine the difficulty of chip design enterprises in the competition.It will get greater excess returns and make themselves at the top of the pyramid.

In recent years, because the wafer chip design company saves billions of dollars in the construction costs of several billion dollars, it is widely popular globally, and the field of mobile terminal power amplifiers is no exception. As shown in Figure 1In addition to the mainland PA companies Rydiko, Vanchip, and the Han Dynasty, the newly -incorporated wireless communication chip giants of the RF chip Qualcomm and Taiwan PA manufacturer Lunda also belong to this column.

However, the characteristics of the mobile terminal power amplifier are different from other semiconductor segment fields. The power amplifier design has high degree of requirements for engineers to understand the manufacturing process, and usually requires continuous experimental trial and error. ThereforeFactory and packaging factories are conducive to improving product performance and accelerating product research and development progress. Therefore, monopoly oligarchs in this field exist in the form of IDM, as shown in Qorvo, Skyworks, and Broadcom shown in the right listed on the right.

After the chip design enterprise uses EDA (Electronics Design Automation, Electronic Design Automation) tools to complete the chip design, it is necessary to send the generated chip layout file to the wafer manufacturing enterprise for production. This process is called TAPE OUT.Later, it became an independent chip, commonly known as nude.The naked film was immediately sent to a chip packaging company. After completing the packaging, it became a well -known chip. After the performance test of the chip testing company, it became a qualified product, which can be shipped to the terminal manufacturer for production assembly.

For a long time, only chip design companies participating in the mobile terminal power amplifier chip industry chain are only chip design companies.The semiconductor industry has transferred the third time. Mainland companies have gradually participated in and integrate into the global industrial chain through various means such as new companies, mergers and acquisitions, and establishment of joint ventures. It is believed that in the future, mainland companies will become an important way to promote industrial development.strength.

2 Analysis of the Global Terminal Power Reapyers Industry Chain -Walls Manufacturing Enterprise

For a long time, the power amplifier chip used for terminals is mainly GAAS technology. Ten years ago, the main GAAS wafer manufacturing plant was concentrated in the United States, such as Skyworks, etc. As semiconductor manufacturing shifted to Asia, Taiwan became the largest income.By.

According to the data of the market research company Strategy Analysis, in early 2015, the world's largest GaaS wafer manufacturer was Win Semiconductors, which was as high as 58.7%. At that timeIt is Taiwan's Hongjieke (AWSC) and the Taiwan listed company GCS (Huanyu), as shown in Figure 2.

Stone has the world's first 6 -inch GAAS wafer fab. In 2014, the production capacity has exceeded 280,000 pieces. The operating income of 2015 is about NT $ 1.2 billion. At present, the third factory has been completed. It is expected that full load capacity can reach 600,000 pieces/Year.The current product lines are basically covered with GAAS HBT and PHEMT processes, which can meet the design requirements of PA and Switch respectively. At the same time, stabilizing the research and development of GAN technology in 2013, and early deployment of the next -generation radio frequency power semiconductor manufacturing processEssence

At present, the world's second largest GaaS foundry is Taiwan Hongjieke. Its process technology is mainly from Skyworks. At the same time, Skyworks is also its main source of orders. The 2015 operating income is about NT $ 440 million.

In the country, the method of extended growth outside San'an Optoelectronics cut into the GAAS and GAN wafer manufacturing markets, and has been supported by the national integrated circuit fund and local funds.Although the acquisition of the Taiwan -listed company GCS (Huanyu) has not succeeded, the two parties have announced the establishment of a joint venture in November 2016, and in -depth cooperation can still begin.The goal of San'an Optoelectronics is to build a GAAS production line of 300,000 pieces/year and 60,000 pieces/year of GAN.

At present, there are 263 customer design cases participating in the semiconductor business of corporate compounds. 19 chips have passed performance verification, and some customers begin to ship.

3 Analysis of the Global Terminal Power amplifier Industry Chain -chip packaging enterprise

As the complexity of the RF front -end solution is getting higher and higher, the importance of packaging technology is becoming more recognized by the industry.Taking the front end of the mobile phone radio frequency as an example, as the overall architecture complexity continues to rise, in order to meet the requirements of miniaturization, the power amplifier, filter and Switch switch circuit set into a chip., Filter uses the RF MEMS process, Switch uses GaaS PHEMT or SOI technology. The application of multiple process technologies makes their integration seriously relying on advanced packaging technology. This is also the main reason why IDM manufacturers continue to invest in their own packaging factories.

Two advanced packaging technologies are currently widely used in the industry: SIP and FLIP-Chip.Compared with the SIP technology that needs to be connected to the welding line, the FLIP-Chip is more advantageous to reduce the packaging size, and it can be combined with the wafer-level packaging technology to provide products with stronger competitiveness.

In addition to IDM manufacturers, the world's major RF front -end chip packaging manufacturers are mainly concentrated in Taiwan and mainland China.Company (2015 operating income of about 7.77 billion NT $ 7.77 billion), mainland China is mainly Changdian Technology and Huatian Technology. Among them, Changdian Technology has obtained a number of advanced packaging technologies after the acquisition of Xingke Jinpeng, accompanied by the mainland upstream chip designThe booming development of the company and downstream terminal manufacturers has a lot of room for growth.

4 Analysis of the Global Terminal Power Reapyers Industry Chain -Chip Testing Enterprise

With the development of the global semiconductor industry chain, more and more packaging companies extend their business towards the lower reaches of the industry chain, and vigorously develop chip testing business, such as Sun Moonlight Semiconductor (ASE).

However, the test of the terminal power amplifier chip has its own special characteristics, many factors affecting product performance, and it is not easy to check. It requires special test equipment and test procedures.Select more professional radio frequency chip testing companies to reduce test costs, stabilize product yields, and shorten the product listing time.

At present, the world's leading professional radio frequency chip testing company is Giga Solution (Giga Solution), which can provide customers with wafer -level testing, packaging -level mass production testing and customized solutions. The operating income of 2015 is about 1.53 billion.NT $.

In addition to Quanzhi Technology, Silicon grid Co., Ltd. (Sigurd, about NT $ 510 million in 2015), Kingyuan Electronics (KING Yuan, 2015 revenue of approximately NT $ 1.71 billion) also provided RF front -end chip testing businessEssence

In China, Dagang shares acquired 100%of Aiko Semiconductor in December 2015 for 1.08 billion yuan. Aiko Semiconductor is an independent third -party integrated circuit test service provider.Wait for various types of chips to test capabilities.It is particularly noteworthy that Aiko semiconductor has an independent RF testing auxiliary equipment, which is one of the few companies that have RF testing service capabilities that have not purchased radio frequency devices abroad.The main domestic radio frequency manufacturers such as Ziguang Zhanrui and Vanchip are closely cooperated with Aico Semiconductor. In addition, large customers include Wuhan Xinxin and SMIC.(Responsible editor: Zhenpeng)