Why is Xiaomi stuck in the chip quagmire?

author | Herding
edit | Xiaomu
Produce | Where is Chi zhinaer.cn

SoC, namely SystemonChip, It is a kind of packaging form of mobile device chip , It is integrated. CPU、GPU、NPU、 Memory and a series of chip components . In mobile terminal ,CPU、GPU The two core chips are mainly used by major manufacturers ARM Products of the company , Downstream manufacturers need to ARM Second development based on the instruction set and chip architecture , It has been adapted to its own software system , And make differentiated functions , At the same time, more self-developed or third-party chips are integrated .

Worldwide , Self research SoC There are few mobile phone manufacturers with chips . Apple 、 Huawei 、 samsung 、 millet , It is one of the four mobile phone manufacturers that have launched self-developed chips .

And one of , Xiaomi is developing itself SoC On the road , It can be said to be stumbling 、 faltering . In the early , Lei Jun and the corresponding person in charge of chip business , May seriously underestimate the self-study SoC The difficulty of .

2017 The surging years S1 It has brought surprises to the Chinese people , Take the lead in carrying Xiaomi 5C Model . But its performance is similar to that of Qualcomm 、 There is a big gap in the products of large manufacturers such as MediaTek , Unable to enter high-end models . And surging S1 It is said that they have successively invested in 80 RMB 100 million for R & D . A serious mismatch between input and output , This led to Xiaomi's self research SoC For a time, the road to .

later , There is a surge of attention S2 All five films failed , Millet self-developed SoC For the time being, it came to an end . And a few years later , Xiaomi regroups , The main focus is on ISP Chip and power management chip , At least good publicity results have been achieved . Actually , Not only Xiaomi , Include OV Including many mobile phone manufacturers , In self research SoC There are great obstacles on the road , Later, they all turned to ISP、NPU On chips with relatively low threshold .

And for SoC chip , Among the domestic mobile phone manufacturers , In addition to huawei , Basically, no one has a decent product . beat a retreat in the face of difficulties , It's also a kind of wisdom . Huawei in those days K3 When it came out , And surging S1 It's a bad start , But Huawei did not give up , Instead, it has intensified production and research , Finally came up with such works as Kirin series processors .

For Apple 、 samsung 、 Huawei has three brands , Since the research SoC The main value of is to keep the core components in the hands of third parties . On the cell phone SoC field , qualcomm 、 mediatek 、 Upstream manufacturers such as Ziguang zhanrui have occupied the absolute dominant power . In order to increase gross profit , At the same time, the bottom hardware and the upper software are more matched 、 Improve user experience , All major manufacturers have begun to explore self-development SoC.

Apple has A Family processor , Has developed to A15.A The series not only laid a solid foundation iPhone Market position of , Also for the later desktop M Series processors lay the foundation . Samsung itself is a semiconductor manufacturer , Its technology reserve in the chip field is the richest among all mobile phone manufacturers .

Including apples , And domestic OPPO、VIVO And many other mobile phone manufacturers , The earliest self-study SoC They have also established R & D cooperation with Samsung .

For Xiaomi , Since the research SoC The meaning of is more profound . Xiaomi mobile phones once swept the market with cost performance , But as sales rise , Xiaomi found that its gross profit space was extremely compressed . In the sales breakthrough 5000 10000 unit hours , The gross profit of Xiaomi mobile phone is only 1.8%, At the same time, those who relied on advertising to win the world OV, It can be done 10% Even higher .

therefore , Xiaomi should reduce the cost as much as possible . And occupy the bulk of the procurement SoC, Is the first direction that Xiaomi paid attention to . Established pinecone electronics with Xiaomi and Lianxin technology . Tell the truth , The surging of that year S1, In fact, it is based on the core connection LC1860 Products developed from the platform . This is a shortcut for Xiaomi . But the drawback of shortcuts is , The performance and quality of the product are not guaranteed .

Research and development SoC It's like building a skyscraper . Some people are in a 10 The foundation of the layer should be covered with 33 Floor building , The result is a teetering ; Some people have played well 33 Foundation of layer , But in the middle, there is no end , Because it really underestimates the difficulty . And those who can really build 33 The first floor of the building , In addition to the necessary capital injection , Own experience in building and resource integration , It has been running in for a long time .

Surging S1 Although it aroused the pride of rice noodles , But its performance is flat and there are many problems , Let it die on the battlefield . And then the surging S2 Multiple streaming failures , Burned a huge amount of money , Xiaomi has no choice but to give up . Still, , Xiaomi finally realized SoC It's challenging , Turn to R & D ISP chip , Image signal processing chip .

Surging C1 available .ISP It can be understood as the brain of the mobile camera module , about CMOS The captured picture is digitally processed , To improve focusing performance 、 Image quality performance, etc . The reason why Xiaomi made such a bad decision , On the one hand is SoC The road is temporarily blocked ; On the other hand, in the highly competitive mobile phone market , Shooting performance is still the core selling point , So Xiaomi simply made an independent SoC In addition to the ISP chip , To maximize the photo experience .

then , Xiaomi has released a surge P1, A charging chip , It can accelerate the charging speed , Improve charging experience . This is also a product improvement idea for the current fast charging revolution in the mobile phone field . In the near future , The media also revealed that Xiaomi will release a new battery management chip , To further optimize the endurance performance .

Actually , Xiaomi bypasses SoC The main background of these independent chips is , In recent years, Xiaomi has madly laid out the semiconductor industry . Only in 2021 year , Xiaomi Changjiang industry fund invested 12 More than semiconductor enterprises , involve AI chip 、 Communication chip 、 Chip car gauge 、 mobile phone SoC、FPGA、MEMS、MLCC、 A / D conversion chip 、 Power devices 、 Discrete devices and other fields .

Surging C1、P1 Wait for the chip , It has something to do with Xiaomi's layout in the semiconductor field . For example, the media revealed that , Surging P1 It is the result of joint research and development by Xiaomi and Nanxin .

Today, , It turns out that pinecone Electronics , It is also divided into two parts , Some teams continue to develop the research and development of surging series chips , It also includes SoC; And the other part becomes big fish semiconductor independently , Main research and development AIoT chip . This is similar to Lei Jun's mobile phone +AIoT The double line strategy echoes .

The signal released by this layout is , In the mobile phone business , Xiaomi may have given up strategically SoC The development of , It starts with a single chip , Strengthen individual user experience ; March again when the time is ripe SoC. On the other hand , Represented by smart home AIoT The plate has become another cash cow of Xiaomi , Laying out the underlying technology of the Internet of things is also a compulsory course for Xiaomi .

Why is Xiaomi so obsessed with chips ？ The answer to this question , The root cause lies in Xiaomi's brand positioning . In the long run , Xiaomi mobile phone has failed to break through the boundary of high-end products , Product gross profit has been at a low level . Although the sales of Xiaomi mobile phones are huge , But the gross profit has not improved yet , And the gap in the high-end market , Let the capital market gradually question the Xiaomi model .

This has led to serious homogenization between Xiaomi's medium and high-end models and competitive products , Pricing strategies are tied up , Can't break the situation . And the domestic mobile phone market , We have also talked about the differentiation of mobile phone operating systems from the original , Turned to the competitive stage of soft and hard integration .

therefore , Xiaomi must break through the chip . Only the underlying chip is in your own hands , Only Xiaomi mobile phones can further make differentiated selling points , Open a clear gap with friends . This point ,OV Also exploring . According to a source ,OPPO As soon as possible 2024 The self-developed SoC.

Another reason that cannot be ignored is , Xiaomi is one of all mobile phone brands ,AIoT The most extensive layout 、 A brand with the largest mass base . let me put it another way , Smart home , It is another trump card in Xiaomi's hand besides the mobile phone . Compared with mobile phones , The demand for chips in smart home is in another order of magnitude .

2022 year Q1 Results show that , millet AIoT The number of platform equipment reaches 4.78 One hundred million units , At the same time 5 The number of users of pieces of equipment and above reaches 950 ten thousand people . And with Xiaomi AIoT Sustainable ecological construction , A more important question is before us ： In the face of smart home and other Internet of things scenarios , Xiaomi has not yet explored a feasible 、 More differentiated business models .

And earn gross profit of hardware , Still Xiaomi AIoT The only way . thus , It is obvious why Xiaomi has increased its semiconductor layout . If Xiaomi can master AIoT Chip production and research , Then smart home and other sectors with billion yuan of shipments will become a huge source of profits . In the current grim situation at home and abroad , Chip constraints not only affect a number of smart home appliance brands , It has also had a great impact on Xiaomi .

let me put it another way , Under the influence of multiple events , It has strengthened Xiaomi's determination to lay out semiconductors . Semiconductor industry for Xiaomi , It is not only the cultivation of one's own muscles and bones , It is also a long-term strategic investment . A series of events illustrate , Master semiconductor technology , It is very important for a consumer electronics brand .

Last , Associate Lei Jun's claim to benchmarking Apple , You can also see a little ： Only by mastering hard technology , To achieve real transformation .