"We have seen a new round of IDM trend in the semiconductor industry, that is, many leading Internet manufacturers and large system companies have begun to focus on self-developed chips, but this IDM trend is very different from the previous one, which gives customized chips. Brings more opportunities, but also introduces a lot of different challenges.”

▲Kenn Liu, Senior Vice President of Socionext Asia Pacific

Kenn Liu, Senior Vice President of Socionext Asia Pacific, talked about the opportunities behind the historical changes of the entire semiconductor industry model in an interview with a reporter from the Semiconductor Industry Observer, and called the current new round of IDM as "IDM 2.0" The model, which breaks the inherent bottleneck of general-purpose chips, is creating new business.

"IDM2.0"

From a historical perspective, the semiconductor industry has experienced more than half a century of development. In the initial heyday of IDM, IDM manufacturers alone covered the entire upstream and downstream chain from design, production to final electronic equipment sales. With the evolution of semiconductor process and the rise of foundries, the close cooperation model of Foundry + Fabless of general chip replaces the traditional vertical integration model of IDM, system company and general chip Fabless companies are mutually beneficial and promote the prosperity of the entire industry.

"However, with the development of mobile Internet services and AI technology and the deployment of a new generation of wireless networks, new application scenarios and algorithms have brought new challenges to chips." Liu Hui pointed out that we have seen those who did not care about self-developed chips. System equipment manufacturers and those leading Internet manufacturers with individual users are increasingly beginning to move vertically and deploy chip research and development. This model called "IDM 2.0" has one of the biggest features: "The purpose of these companies' self-developed chips is not to reduce costs, but to bring quality improvement and differentiated competition through self-developed chips for the main business. Products. So compared to the previous IDM, they are not so concerned about the vertical integration that does not reflect their differentiation, such as more upstream semiconductor production, testing.”

For example, today's Internet manufacturers are far less interested in the 20% hardware investment savings brought by self-developed chips than "a 20% increase in traffic or an increase in active users." Just as the purpose of Apple's self-developed chips is not to reduce costs, but to support popular products such as AirPods, whose prices are 2-3 times higher than the average market price.

Liu Hui said that the new IDM will focus more on the pain points of business needs, the creation of software algorithms, and how to convert business needs and software into unique algorithm modules in the chip.

"For these IDMs, they need a good customized SoC partner to help them offload the general part in the chip and the specific implementation of the chip." Obviously, this puts forward unprecedented requirements for partners, not only need Rich experience in ASIC front-end and back-end design and mass production, as well as platform-based SoC architecture and software and hardware capabilities, help it quickly build SoCs with differentiated algorithms. And this puts forward higher requirements for customized ASIC manufacturers, and there are very few manufacturers in the industry that can meet these requirements.

And this is the biggest opportunity for Socionext.

Profound accumulation of design technology and rich product coverage

On the surface, Socionext, founded in 2015, is an emerging semiconductor startup, but it is not. In terms of technology, she has a very deep accumulation, because she has integrated and inherited the main semiconductor products and technologies of the semiconductor departments of Fujitsu and Panasonic, the two largest IDMs in Japan.

"The 1990s was the peak period of Japan's semiconductor industry. Since then, it has encountered the Internet bubble in 2000, the suppression of the United States, and the rise of South Korean semiconductors. Japan has not continued to invest in semiconductor manufacturing under the influence of many factors, but semiconductor design is still It is an area in which the Japanese government believes that it needs to maintain global competitiveness. Liu Hui said: "The Japanese government spent a lot of money at that time to facilitate the merger of the semiconductor departments of the two companies, with the intention of creating the largest company in Japan that can serve the global semiconductor Fabless. Under this vision, Socionext has gone through five years, and the proportion of business outside Japan is increasing year by year, serving many world-renowned customers, including traditional systems and emerging Internet companies. "

At present, Socionext's business includes two major parts. One is general-purpose ASSP, which is completely designed by Socionext and provides technical support including chips and hardware and software solutions. The other is composed of custom chip ASICs, products customized for customers, mainly providing value capabilities including front-end and back-end design and production management, delivering chip hardware, enabling customers to focus on core algorithms and systems and the market. value.

▲Socionext's business areas

In recent years, combining the two major product categories of ASSP and ASIC, Socionext's business covers many markets and application fields, including consumer visual image processing, radar detection and perception, augmented/virtual reality, streaming video processing, 8K high-definition image quality , office automation, narrowband IOT and high-resolution power carrier communication; data center computing and storage in the industrial and automotive fields, 5G wireless access and network transmission, automotive smart cockpit and ADAS, industrial robotics and mobile medical, etc.

"We have accumulated a lot of SoC and Mix-signal platforms on ASSP, and these platforms can be used in our customized business. In some market areas, we also see the trend of customized chips replacing general-purpose chips. , we will flexibly switch the route of general product development to the route customized for customers. In these market segments, we believe that the core competitiveness of customers in the understanding of end users and systems, we hope to provide these platform The SoC solution enables customers to quickly iterate their chips.” Liu Hui mentioned, “Being the supporter behind the success of customers is our positioning in the industry chain.”

The unprecedented epidemic has redefined people's way of life and work, and also made people see the huge development potential of virtual space communication based on Internet technology. After the epidemic, more companies and individuals may adapt and choose this way of learning and working. This puts forward higher requirements and brings more opportunities to the expansion of data centers, the deployment and upgrading of network equipment, and the changes in the form of home communication and entertainment terminal equipment. In Liu Hui's eyes, customized SoCs are full of promise in these opportunities. In addition, the combination of 5G, AI and cloud computing, new energy vehicles and autonomous driving also have great demand for customized SoCs.

For Socionext, which ranks second globally in the custom ASIC segment (IHS 2019 ranking), these market opportunities bring a lot of room for future custom ASICs to grow. According to a report by kbv research, by 2025 , the global ASIC chip market size will reach 24.7 billion US dollars, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.2% during the forecast period (2019 to 2025). Some well-known general-purpose chip manufacturers also use customized chips for customers to make up for the lack of company business.

Differentiated platform customized SoC solutions

There are actually many companies in the industry that provide design services, but many companies are unable to provide the entire chain from product specifications, to system software and hardware design, chip front-end and back-end design, to chip production and delivery. Important customers provide long-term and reliable customized services.

"I think our differentiation comes from inheriting a large number of SoC products and technologies from Fujitsu and Panasonic, plus the full-chain capability formed by years of experience in serving customized customers, especially the front-end and back-end delivery interface mode that is different from traditional ASICs The platform-based solution is based on a series of multi-core SoC platforms from Socionext. Socionext completes most of the work including chip design and underlying software design including the top-level and main subsystems of the chip. Customers only need to focus on the core algorithm logic and verification. And the upper-layer software and middleware related to the application." Liu Hui mentioned in particular.

▲Socionext platform SoC concept

▲The coverage level of Socionext ASIC platform solution

Liu Hui introduced that Socionext has formed a series of multi-core platform solutions in recent years, such as: 24xA53 and 32/64xN1 platforms for big data centers and high-performance embedded computing fields, and multi-core A55 and A76E stacking for automotive and autonomous driving fields Vehicle-grade ISP platform, 4/8-core A72 platform for small and medium-sized networks and computing equipment, and multi-core A53+AV1/HEVC/H.264+ISP platform for surveillance, video streaming and Camera applications.

Liu Hui said: "On the basis of these platforms, customers can also discuss with Socionext in-depth customized and differentiated features, and at the same time connect their core algorithm UDL with the CPU subsystem, signal processing subsystem, storage subsystem and other high-speed peripherals through the bus. Interface subsystem for connection communication.”

Regarding the advantages of platform SoC, two cases can be used for in-depth analysis. For example, in the platform ASIC case of "L4 Autonomous Driving Machine Learning Accelerator+Fusion Chipset", the customer provides key UDL RTL and verification, while Socionext is responsible for the construction and verification of the SoC system and the design of the safety mechanism.

▲The case of "L4 Autonomous Driving Machine Learning Accelerator+Fusion Chipset"

It is worth mentioning that Chip B uses a 5nm process, "This chip is very difficult, the first is that it is a super-large ADAS acceleration chip of more than one billion gates, with high performance requirements, and system integration and verification are very complex. Liu Hui explained: "In addition to the chip, it is necessary to achieve ASIL_B certification. Whether it is made by the process or third-party IP, the preparation of the vehicle is still in the early stage. With such a complex chip, customers hope that A partner with automotive regulatory experience and SOC architecture capabilities, because of years of design and product experience in automotive regulatory SOC chips, customers chose Socionext for cooperation.”

In the field of high-performance computing, in the case of the many-core (>32) N1 processor mentioned by Liu Hui, the customer provides a network communication accelerator based on a special communication protocol, and the other parts of the chip are completed by Socionext, including the top layer of the chip, Many-core CPU subsystem, DDR5, PCIE-5 and ultra-high-speed Serdes and other high-speed interface subsystems.

In the entire platform SoC solution, Socionext provides customers with a variety of innovative cooperation models. This customized solution can be like a menu (as shown in the figure below) for customers to choose. "Such a flexible cooperation model allows us to extend the resources and capabilities of our customer team, and through cooperation with customers, our value chain has also been extended. Because of such tightly coupled cooperation, our team and the customer's team can Build a very strong relationship of trust.”

▲Socionext platform solution cooperation model case

In addition to the platform solution, Socionext's advantage lies in the design experience and capability of large-scale chips on advanced technology. According to Liu Hui, "On 10nm/7nm/5nm, Socionext has more than 10 large-scale chip project experience, and the cases cover from ultra-low latency and consumer electronics AR/VR, to automotive chips with high quality and safety requirements. , and then to Big Mac's many-core CPU and AI acceleration chip." Among them, 5nm, the technology TEG was completed in March 2019, and there are now 3 cases in the implementation.

Experience plays a very large role in large chip designs. Usually, the die size of network communication and data center chips is large, the speed is fast, and the signal flow is complex. Whether it is the consideration of the wiring density in the channel in the layout and routing, or the consideration of the beat or feedthrough that needs to be considered for the ultra-long distance wiring, and the elimination of the timing effect caused by the large chip ocv, the new products in the synchronous design are The problem of clock tree balance, the SI problem that high-speed IP needs to consider, and the PI problem common to large chips can only be solved by actual combat experience. In the interview, Liu Hui has a lot of solutions to these problems, and gave an example: "The design of large-scale network or processor chip clock architecture requires special skills and considerations, in addition to the traditional clock tree, it is necessary to introduce such as H-Tree , Clock Mesh, and even a mix of clock structures.”

Liu Hui also mentioned that Socionext has given full play to the consistent high-quality management spirit of Japanese companies to achieve high-reliability design and production delivery. The company achieves high quality and low ppm product delivery through strategies such as acceptance criteria, experimental design and conditions, and special screening of special products.

In addition, Socionext has also made great achievements in the packaging process, inheriting the advanced packaging design capabilities and mass production experience of Fujitsu. Their packaging process is mainly reflected in the following three dimensions:

1. Super-computing and CPU-driven super-large packaging design capabilities, specifically, the super-large size 70mmX70mm, the ultra-low thermal resistance brought by the unique metal TIM, the complex multi-layer substrate design capabilities and the special ceramic packaging mass production experience; _2, Design flow and reference designs on mature HBM and 2.5D Cowos packages; _3, Advanced package SI/PI co-design capabilities, Socionext has more than 50 SI/PI teams in Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, gathered in high-speed chips The co-design of packaging is the guarantee to ensure the success of the customer's one-time tape-out.

Focus on localized development

"Although 2020 is a very difficult year, we have achieved nearly 50% growth in China's business volume, of which more than 70% comes from customized business." Liu Hui said: "Although we promote domestically Not much, but through the steady and hard-working spirit, it has won the trust of many customers.”

According to reports, in recent years Socionext has introduced projects in China including cutting-edge 5G, high-end automotive IVI, optical network communications, large-scale CPU chips for computing centers, etc., all of which run on the most advanced process nodes. This is consistent with Socionext's business positioning - customers with high-end advanced processes below 16nm.

Liu Hui, who joined Socionext in 2016, has previously held various R&D and marketing management positions in STMicroelectronics, Fujitsu and Cadence. Currently, he is in charge of all managements including R&D and marketing in Socionext Asia Pacific, helping Socionext to build a more Localized culture and team, and led the region to achieve business transformation and breakthroughs, and the business in Greater China has grown from dozens of millions to nearly 200 million US dollars. "My strategy is very simple, based on customers, to help Socionext further realize the transformation of localization strategy in China, including attracting more excellent local talents to strengthen the development, support and supply of localized products, to better satisfy Chinese customers, and to adapt to Meet the diversified and dynamic Chinese business needs." When talking about future strategies, Liu Hui answered clearly. "The company's business development is inseparable from the help of upstream and downstream ecological partners. Socionext adopts an open ecological cooperation strategy. At the same time, in order to better serve Chinese local customers, we are also considering actively developing a special Chinese supply chain strategy."

In this promising land, a Japanese technology company like Socionext breaks the shackles of traditional Japanese companies, and continues to open up more possibilities by adopting excellent local management talents like Liu Hui at the helm.

Reprinted from: Semiconductor Industry Observation