Jiwei reported that in 2023, the global semiconductor industry will be parallel in challenges and opportunities, and the industry is looking forward to the dawn in 2024. As a leading enterprise of front-end chips in China, Xinbaxter Microelectronics has been established for five years and has achieved outstanding results in the face of many difficulties in the industry. RF chips are one of the key components in the fields of 5G, Wi-Fi, and the Internet of Things, and have always been the focus of domestic industrial research. In the upcoming 2023, Xinbaxter will continue to tackle key problems and take the initiative to meet challengesLooking forward to 2024, with a solid layout and a positive development strategy, Xinbaxter is bound to usher in greater growth.
Retrospectiveyears, Xinbaxter has achieved fruitful results
In 2023, Xinbaxter has always adhered to the belief of "putting technology first, continuing to tackle key problems, and solving the key technologies and key performance of RF front-end chips", and has achieved many outstanding results. In terms of awards, the company won the Most Investment Value Award and the Investment Institution Recommendation Award in the "China Core Power" selection of the China Semiconductor Investment AllianceIn the 12th China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, it successfully advanced to the national finals, won the National Outstanding Enterprise Award in the final stage, and advanced to the top 100 in the countryIn 2023, the A-level demonstration warehousing enterprise of Jiangsu Province for the implementation of the integration of industrialization and industrialization management system has obtained the qualification of private science and technology enterprises in Jiangsu Province, the certification of specialized and special new small and medium-sized enterprises in Wuxi, the quasi-unicorn cultivation and warehousing enterprise in Wuxi, and the warehousing enterprise of key construction projects in Wuxi.
In terms of system construction, Xinbaxter has passed the ISO 9001 quality system certification and intellectual property management system certification. In terms of products, its Wi-Fi 6 series products and UWB High Band FEM have both achieved mass production and shipment, and its operating income has increased significantly compared with last year. In terms of capital, the company completed tens of millions of yuan in the B+ round of financing, accumulating sufficient energy for the subsequent rapid development.
Xinbaxter is obsessed with going through the cycle, winning in the long-distance race, and has achieved fruitful results in 2023, a "small year" in the electronics and chip industry, with its excellent strength.
The challenges in the field of RF chips have turned into a driving force for innovation and progress
According to WSTS**, the global semiconductor market size is expected to decrease by 4% year-on-year in 20231%, to $556.6 billion. However, many statistics show that this downward cycle will have an inflection point in the second half of 2023. In terms of China's semiconductor market, production capacity will increase in 2023, with a full-year growth of 6%, and its global share will further increase.
Xinbaxter said that from the perspective of the RF chip field and market, the overall industrial development in 2023 will show steady growth, with continuous technological innovation, accelerated domestic substitution, fierce industry competition, and diversification of downstream application fields. But the industry also faces some challenges in 2023:
, insufficient technological upgrading and innovation capabilities
With the rapid commercial promotion of 5G communication technology and the launch of 6G R&D, the technical requirements for RF chips are getting higher and higher, and continuous technological innovation is required to meet the needs of higher frequency bands, larger bandwidths and lower latency. However, technological innovation and upgrading in this field require long-term R&D investment and accumulation, which is a challenge for some enterprises.
, high cost and competition
Due to its special principle, RF chips have relatively high production costs, especially in terms of materials, processes, and packaging. With the intensification of market competition and the increase in customer sensitivity to the highest quality, how to control costs while maintaining product performance and quality is a major problem that RF chip manufacturers need to solve urgently.
and the challenge of domestic substitution of imports
Although certain achievements have been made in the field of national first-frequency chips, there is still a situation of dependence on foreign countries in the field of high-end products, especially in core components such as RF power amplifiers and low-noise amplifiers. There is still a gap between domestic enterprises and international first-class enterprises in terms of technology research and development, production scale and brand influence.
Insufficient coordination of the industrial chain
The industrial chain of RF chips is long, involving many links such as material suppliers, chip design companies, manufacturers, packaging and testing companies. How to strengthen the coordination and cooperation of all links in the industrial chain, optimize the allocation of resources, and improve the overall competitiveness is a problem that the RF chip industry needs to face.
, the uncertainty of the international environment
Today's global environment is affected by protectionism, tariff barriers, export controls and other factors, which may have an adverse impact on the international development of the RF chip industry, which brings challenges to the global development of the industry.
"These challenges are not only a constraint to the development of the industry, but also a driving force for the industry's innovation and progress. In the face of the above challenges, the company has formulated a corresponding development strategy, including: increasing R&D investment, rewarding technology breakthrough engineers, improving process design, integrating upstream resources, reducing production costs, increasing brand publicity and other measures, turning pressure into motivation and taking the initiative to meet challenges.
Regarding the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, Xinbaxter said that AI can bring many help to chip design, including improving design efficiency, optimizing design quality, reducing design costs, and enhancing the feasibility of design. At present, the company is trying to use AI tools to help designers make design adjustments in advance to adapt to future market needs by analyzing historical data and future design trends.
Looking ahead to 2024, the industry prospect is promising
Xinbaxter believes that driven by policy support and market demand, the process of domestic substitution of imports in the RF chip industry is expected to accelerate in 2024With the continuous promotion of 5G and 6G technology, the industry will also continue to carry out technological innovation and upgrading. In 2024, the application of AI technology in the field of RF chip design will be more mature, bringing new development opportunities to the industry.
In the future, the RF industry will continue to develop towards modularization and system-in-package (SIP) technology, which will help improve chip performance, reduce size, reduce costs, and promote collaboration between upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain. In addition, the R&D and application of new materials such as gallium nitride (GaN) will further improve the performance and efficiency of RF chips.
In 2024, Xinbaxter will implement the development strategy of "one main and two wings". First of all, the company will continue to increase investment in the main track of AIoT, WiFi and 5G and maintain stable growthSecondly, the company strives to develop the "vehicle application" and "equipment application" two wing market. In 2023, the company has made many breakthroughs in the on-board application market, and has been certified by a number of new energy vehicle brands of new car manufacturers in applications such as in-vehicle entertainment, smart car keys and on-board high-precision antennas, and is expected to have considerable shipments in 2024. In addition, the company's C-V2X Internet of Vehicles FEM chip built according to the vehicle specification level standard will be launched soon, which will fill the domestic gap in this field. In the field of equipment application, the company's R&D, design, assembly and production, and marketing teams based on the third-generation compound semiconductor GANs have been formed, and the micro-assembly line of the 10,000-level purification workshop will also be smoothly put into production and mass production in 2024. The company has strong market competitiveness in three generations of semi-pre-matched and internally matched power amplifiers, monolithic products or integrated modules in plastic and ceramic metal packages. It is expected that in 2024, the company's equipment application chip products will usher in a large performance growth, providing a new power source for the rapid growth of the company's revenue.