With the acquisition of Xilinx, AMD is more than "walking on two legs" | Jiazi found

second child , Be the first in new fields .

 

author  | Fan Wenjing

from ： Light year

 

The last few hours of Valentine's day , The global chip industry has completed a “ Like to marry ”.

 

2022 year 2 month 14 Sunday night , American semiconductor company AMD Announce the completion of Xilinx（ Sarinx ） Acquisition . Press Xilinx Based on the current market value , The value of this acquisition is close to 500 Billion dollars , It has set a new record in the field of chip acquisition .AMD Chief executive Su Zifeng said , By receiving Xilinx,AMD It's going to be in the data center 、5G signal communication 、 automobile 、 Industry 、 Aerospace and defense expand the market .“ These are all AMD Markets rarely touched , They also need high-performance computing .”

 

The acquisition , First started in 1 Years ago .2020 year 10 month 27 Japan ,AMD Announce that we will 350 US $100 million acquisition Xilinx. After a long approval process , This year, 1 month 27 The Chinese regulatory authorities in Japan conditionally approved the acquisition plan , The last major regulatory barrier to the acquisition was resolved .

 

China's request is , At the completion of the right Xilinx After acquisition ,AMD Sell any product in China , It is not allowed to force tie-in or restrict individual purchase , Continue to supply CPU、GPU、FPGA And related software , Make sure Xilinx Our products are compatible except AMD Other processors than 、AMD Chip compatible except Xilinx Products of other manufacturers , Keep the information of third-party manufacturers confidential .

 

Although this acquisition is less concerned than NVIDIA's acquisition ARM high , But it will also become AMD This is in CPU and GPU The field has always been second 、 Companies whose total market capitalization lags behind NVIDIA and Intel , Realization “ they ” An important step . meanwhile , This acquisition is for FPGA、CPU、GPU Such as the Chinese market has not yet developed and improved “ thetime ” technology , It will also have a certain impact .

 

1. Do it on two tracks “ Second brother ”

For a long time ,AMD stay CPU and GPU The market share of all fields ranks second .

 

stay CPU field ,AMD Its market share is behind Intel . according to Mercury Research data , section to 2021 Fourth quarter of 2007 ,AMD stay x86 In the market CPU Proportion to 25.6%, Throughout CPU Proportion of fields 23.3%.

 

stay GPU field ,AMD The market share of is behind NVIDIA . according to JPR The data of ,2021 In the first half of ,AMD In independence GPU The market share of the field is 17%, In integration GPU And independence GPU The market share of the field is about 16.5%.

 

But for a long time ,AMD But it's the only one who owns it at the same time CPU and GPU Semiconductor company of products .

 

With the increase of data and algorithm in modern computing , The requirements for chip performance are also increasing . And the speed of chip performance improvement （ According to Moore's law ：18 Doubled in months ） It can't keep up with the demand brought by the increase of data volume and algorithm improvement , It also urges these enterprises to start using “ Heterogeneous computing ” The way , take CPU and GPU And other different types of chips are combined in a certain way , To make up for each other's shortcomings 、 Achieve better calculation effect .

 

However , Buying chips from other companies is expensive , And it is difficult for our products to completely match other brands , Buyers need Again Optimize through software , Then carry and sell . such ,AMD At the same time CPU and GPU The advantages of the product line appear .

 

Of course , Do not have at the same time CPU and GPU Intel and NVIDIA , They have also improved their product solutions by acquiring and acquiring other products . such as ,2020 NVIDIA acquired a server and storage solution provider Mellanox, With its GPU Together, we will become the strongest solution in the data center .

 

besides , The protagonist of this acquisition AMD I was in 2006 In the past years 54 US $billion acquisition of graphics processor company ATi（ATI Technologies Inc.） To help them GPU Business development ;2019 year , Intel is funding 20 US $100 million acquisition Habana Labs.

 

2. Acquisition case and FPGA Development in China

Past , Acquisitions are also common in the chip sector , And the transaction price is very high . This is because , Chip as a technology driven track , Development requires long-term accumulation , from 0 To 1 Very difficult . stay FPGA The field is even more so .

 

FPGA It is a kind of hardware programmable chip , The acquired Xilinx Has always been a FPGA The company with the highest market share in the field , Its share in China and the world exceeds 50%. also , The market concentration of the whole industry is also very high ,Top2 The market concentration exceeds 80%,Top4 Concentration exceeds 95%.

 

meanwhile , generally speaking ,FPGA It has better performance and lower power consumption , But research and development is very difficult . One side , because FPGA Hardware programmable features , The physical characteristics of hardware are required when the chip works , Therefore, there is a great demand for chip materials and manufacturing processes ; On the other hand ,FPGA The programming of is hardware oriented , Compared with the usual software programming , The language is more basic 、 Less popular , It's more difficult .

 

That's why , Chip giants give up self-development FPGA Ideas , Instead, adopt the acquisition strategy .2015 year , Intel buys Altera, Be in FPGA The second largest company in the field .

 

And this time AMD Yes Xilinx Acquisition , Will also help AMD Improve the breadth and depth of business . The specific term , With the outbreak of artificial intelligence , Data center business has become the fastest growing computing chip 、 It is also one of the most important fields . In the data center chip ,CPU、GPU、FPGA and ASIC Each occupies a certain market share , And will participate in computing together in a heterogeneous way . When dealing with data center business ,CPU It can be used for central control 、GPU Be responsible for the parallel operation of massive data , And programmable FPGA Participation , Can be effective 、 Targeted optimization of the first two , Such as unloading CPU The burden on network and storage 、 To speed up the GPU Connectivity with data .

 

current FPGA When used in data centers , Generally, Intel's PCIe agreement （peripheral component interconnect express）, There is much room for improvement in the convenience and effect of use . In the acquisition of Xilinx after ,AMD There is an opportunity to target Xilinx Develop new interfaces , To improve FPGA With the GPU and CPU Performance when running together .

 

As the last country to approve the acquisition , China is right for the market Xilinx Chip is very dependent .

 

That's why , China will put forward the preconditions for five acquisitions , To avoid monopoly .

 

In China, ,FPGA It has developed for several years .2021 year 8 month , Fudan Microelectronics is listed on the science and Technology Innovation Board , It is mainly engaged in government business FPGA Chip development , The share price rose close to 760%;3 After a month , Anlu technology is listed , The company's products are mainly aimed at commercial fields FPGA Chip development , The share price also rose on the first day 161%. Both companies are the companies with the highest share price increase on the first day of the month , This shows that the capital market pays attention to the track .

 

however , Chinese companies in FPGA Compared with Xilinx There is still a certain gap , This leads to FPGA The localization rate of chips is very low , Even in some fields of information technology and entrepreneurship, foreign products are still used .

 

That's why , There are practitioners who want to 「 Light year 」 Express , This acquisition will be beneficial to China in the next three to five years FPGA The company has little influence , Because this period of time is still in the domestic “ Technical breakthrough ” period . And after China's six-year anti-monopoly restrictions on the acquisition , In the Chinese market FPGA The competition with foreign giants can be officially opened .

END.