According to the information released by C114 on December 7, the chip industry has spent a year full of challenges in the context of "destocking". According to Counterpoint Research's latest market research report**, global smartphone shipments will reach 1.2 billion units in 2023, down 5% from the previous year and the lowest in nearly a decade. Due to weak terminal demand, upstream chipmakers are also facing the pressure of "wintering".
Crises and opportunities always coexist, and once these risks are overcome, it is equivalent to finding opportunities. "In the historical process of the chip industry, mobile phone chip manufacturer UNISOC has experienced many periodic adjustments and is now able to deal with it calmly. At the 2023 World 5G Conference, Ren Qiwei, CEO of UNISOC in an exclusive interview with C114, made it clear that despite the continuous development of the communications industry, the company will never slow down, but will actively invest in R&D in the face of adversity, looking forward to the gradual recovery of the market. There is still huge potential for 5G technology.
Ren Qiwei, who served as the helmsman of UNISOC business, stayed out of the matter and experienced the coolness of the chip industry this year. "The industry was significantly sluggish in the second half of last year, and this year it is even more prominent. Ren Qiwei said, but in any case, product and technology investment must be persistent, and the projects on various fronts related to 5G are also going forward.
According to reports, UNISOC's high-performance 5G SoC chip platform T820 was certified by Vodafone Group, a multinational operator, in February, which laid a solid foundation for 5G chips to go overseas. The mass-market-oriented 5G SoC T750 has also been officially mass-produced this year, and has been certified by several major operators, while exploring the regional markets in Southeast Asia and Latin America. Looking forward to the coming year, UNISOC will soon launch the latest generation of 5G SoC products that are more competitive in the market.
In addition to mobile phone chips, UNISOC has always been in a state of layout in terms of full-scene communication chips, and the company has also been involved in this year's market hotspots. Taking mobile phone satellite direct connection as an example, the first 5G NTN satellite communication SOC chip V8821 released by UNISOC is equipped with 3GPP IoT NTN R17 as standard, supports L-band maritime satellites and S-band Tiantong satellites, and can be expanded to support access to other NTN satellite systems, which has been adapted to China Telecom's "Tiantong-1".
Another example is that after the outbreak of edge AI large models this year, data centers have experienced a surging computing power revolution, and the demand for computing power on the terminal side is also being rapidly explored. Ren Qiwei said that generative AI technology is bound to bring significant changes to the entire industry, and the development of technology in the communications industry is embracing AI empowerment. UNISOC continues to invest in AI technology to improve various applications of smartphones, and at the same time, it is also actively deploying edge AI and positioning for large model support. The picture shows the future development trend. ”
In addition, UNISOC is also advancing in RedCap, smart cockpit and high-definition smart TV. In the context of the consumer electronics market bottoming out and gradually heating up in the second half of the year, the above layout has good support for the company's high-quality development. "We've already started researching 6G. Mobile technology is almost a 10-generation technology, and 6G will also be put into commercial use around 2030, and the layout is at this time. Ren Qiwei said.
UNISOC has made remarkable achievements in the field of 5G chips. As early as 2019, at the beginning of 5G commercialization, UNISOC launched the first 5G multi-mode baseband chip V510, and launched the first 5G SoC chip platform T740 the following year, which is about half a year behind the industry's first-class manufacturers, far better than the progress of the 4G era.
Today, UNISOC continues to iterate on its 5G chips, forming a series of product layouts, including the T820, a high-performance mobile platform with system-level security, long battery life, and high-speed connectivityAimed at mainstream users, the T770 and T760 focus on fast and enjoyable entertainment experience;The T750 mobile platform for the mass market. These products have achieved great success in the ubiquitous market, helping its customers launch a number of cost-effective 5G end products.
In addition, UNISOC is about to launch its first 5G RedCap chip, V517, and is actively deploying and developing commercially available 5G R17 RedCap terminals, extending its technical capabilities to vertical industry markets and working with partners to empower the digital transformation of the industry.
Ren Qiwei said that the industry market as a whole is still in the cultivation stage, but the future development space is very broad. As the value of 5G technology is gradually accepted by industry customers, the market prospect of 5G technology will become more and more broad.
UNISOC focuses on its own technology improvement and product strength improvement, and wants to deepen the popularization market and look forward to a larger blue ocean. In the context of the recovery of the smartphone market and the fact that 5G has become the foundation technology of the digital society, UNISOC is a growing market opportunity.
Follow Guangxi Zhitong to learn more about communication technology news.