FPGA Domestic Manufacturers vs. Foreign Manufacturers

FPGA is a “universal” chip that can be purchased and then designed. FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) is an integrated circuit with programmable features that is pre-designed on a silicon chip. It can be configured into a specified circuit structure according to the designer’s needs, allowing customers not to rely on ASIC chips designed and manufactured by chip manufacturers. It is widely used in prototype verification, communications, automotive electronics, industrial control, aerospace, data centers, and other fields.

Altera LUT4 Architecture

Technical Trends: Process Iteration Drives 33 Years of Development, Platform Products are the Future

Since Xilinx invented FPGA in 1985, its capacity has increased more than 10,000 times, speed has increased more than 100 times, and price and power consumption have decreased more than 1,000 times. Driven by advanced process iterations, the architecture of FPGA has been continuously updated. In 1985, Xilinx launched the world’s first FPGA product, the XC2064, using 2μm technology, which included 64 logic modules and 85,000 transistors, with a gate count not exceeding 1,000. In comparison, the VIRTEX UltraScale released by Xilinx in 2016 uses a 16nm process and can reach up to 3.78 million system logic units. The iteration of FPGA processes has improved computing power while reducing power consumption and chip area, promoting the performance improvement of FPGA.

In the future, in terms of technical trends, process iteration + platform products will be the future product development direction. We still have confidence in the performance improvements brought by advanced processes to FPGA, while the emergence of new product forms (platform products) offers further potential for performance enhancement. Xilinx and Intel have successively released ACAP and Agilex platform products. According to data disclosed by Xilinx, the new platform products are 20 times faster than the current highest-speed FPGA and 100 times faster than the fastest CPU, targeting data centers, wired networks, 5G wireless, and automotive driving assistance applications. In terms of product progress, on June 19, 2019, the Versal AI Core and Versal Prime series components were shipped in small batches, with mass production expected in the second half of 2019.

High Technical, Patent, and Talent Barriers, Domestic Substitutes Face Challenges

FPGA is an industry with high technical barriers. Some people believe that FPGA companies are half IC design companies + half software companies, with complex hardware structures and low yield, making the collaboration between hardware and software even more challenging for R&D. The hardware development part of FPGA companies belongs to typical IC design companies. Unlike general IC design companies, FPGA hardware needs to be used with EDA software, so FPGA companies usually need to develop EDA software that is compatible with their own hardware, making them also half EDA software companies. Due to the complexity of FPGA layout and routing, hardware design is challenging, and the difficulty of system engineering is further upgraded due to the collaborative development of software and hardware.

Core patents are monopolized by leading companies, making it difficult for domestic manufacturers to advance. The expiration of patents may bring opportunities. Currently, foreign manufacturers hold an absolute advantage in patents, with Xilinx and Altera (Intel) having nearly 10,000 patents in the FPGA field, while domestic manufacturers like Unisoc have only about 200 patents, a significant difference. In the future, as some patents expire and domestic manufacturers make breakthroughs in new patents, the monopolistic pattern of patents may see a turning point.

The degree of localization in the semiconductor industry chain is low, and the process of hardware autonomy is unstoppable. Domestic manufacturers must strengthen themselves. From the perspective of the industry chain, the degree of autonomy in the hardware industry chain is currently low, especially in the fields of high-end semiconductor equipment and materials. The promotion of the domestic substitution process in the upstream and downstream of the industry chain will also help accelerate the development of domestic FPGA.

Upstream of the hardware part: EDA + IP. The EDA used for hardware development is still Cadence, Synopsys, and MentorGraphics, and IP sources include external licensing and internal development.

Downstream of the hardware part: foundries + packaging and testing. Domestic foundries mainly cooperate with TSMC and SMIC, while packaging and testing mainly collaborate with ASE and others.

FPGA Hardware Industry Chain

63 Billion Dollar Global Market, Xilinx and Intel as Duopolies

FPGA is a small field in the large integrated circuit industry, with 5G and AI providing certainty for industry growth. The domestic replacement combined with industry growth means that the domestic FPGA market is about to take off. According to WSTS data, the global integrated circuit market reached $468.8 billion in 2018, while the global FPGA market was about $6.3 billion, accounting for about 1.34% of the integrated circuit market. Although the market is small, it is expected to benefit from the global layout of 5G infrastructure and the continuous development of AI technology, leading to a certain increase in demand for FPGA. Under industry growth, the domestic substitution process will further accelerate the growth of domestic FPGA. According to the China Semiconductor Industry Association, the domestic FPGA market’s domestic rate was less than 1% in 2017, and with technological breakthroughs, domestic FPGA is about to take off.

The global FPGA market size continues to rise, with Asia-Pacific being the main market for FPGA, and future industry development is promising. According to Gartner, the global FPGA market size reached $6.9 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach $12.5 billion by 2025, with stable growth in the future. The Asia-Pacific region accounts for 42%, making it the main FPGA market. The FPGA market size in China is about 10 billion yuan, and with the deployment of 5G and the development of AI technology in China, the domestic FPGA market is expected to expand further.

Global FPGA Market Size

Three foreign giants occupy 90% of the global market, while domestic manufacturers are temporarily lagging behind. The FPGA market shows a duopoly monopoly structure, with Xilinx and Intel occupying 56% and 31% of the global market, respectively. In the Chinese FPGA market, their shares are also as high as 52% and 28%. Due to technical, financial, and talent barriers, as well as the economies of scale brought by FPGA mass production, the leading position of industry leaders is relatively stable.

Global FPGA Market Share by Company Distribution

Domestic manufacturers currently account for about 4% of the Chinese market. In the future, as domestic manufacturers achieve technical breakthroughs, the domestic replacement in the FPGA field may present a hundred billion-level opportunity, with vast replacement space.

Chinese FPGA Market Share by Company Distribution

Major Domestic FPGA Companies

1. Jingwei Qili: Second Entrepreneurship, Targeting AI Cloud Edge

In terms of establishment time, Jingwei Qili is the latest, founded in June 2017. However, in terms of ambition and experience, Jingwei Qili is no less than other domestic FPGA manufacturers.

Founded in June 2017, Jingwei Qili positions itself as the best domestic FPGA and next-generation heterogeneous programmable computing chip supplier in China.

Its founder and CEO, Wang Haili, graduated from the National University of Defense Technology with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and obtained his master’s and doctoral degrees from Tsinghua University in EDA.

At the end of 2015, while still a doctoral student at Tsinghua University, Wang Haili joined a newly established Sino-foreign joint venture FPGA company, Yagro Technology, which was renamed “Jingwei Yage” in 2010 with the support of guiding funds from Beijing.

With the support of national and local projects, the FPGA product series developed independently by Jingwei Yage from low to high specifications has been successively put into production. Unfortunately, due to unfavorable circumstances, by 2016, the operation of Jingwei Yage was in trouble due to multiple reasons such as obstacles in market promotion of early development products and delays in project funding, resulting in the departure of hundreds of employees.

After obtaining the consent of the original company’s shareholders, Wang Haili and the remaining 8 employees established Jingwei Qili in June 2017. Within two months, they secured nearly 7 million yuan in angel round financing, and in January of the following year, they received tens of millions in Pre-A round financing led by Hikvision Fund.

FPGA Domestic Manufacturers vs. Foreign Manufacturers

In terms of talent, the original company’s core technology team is among the first in China to design FPGA chips. Wang Haili re-recruited some of these experts, expanding the team to over 50 people.

With a fresh start, Jingwei Qili has not only provided traditional FPGA chips for communication, industrial, and medical scenarios after acquiring authorization and secondary development rights for hundreds of patents and proprietary technologies from Jingwei Yage, but also aims at emerging scenarios such as cloud servers and consumer smart terminals, developing three major series of next-generation AI programmable chips AiPGA, edge heterogeneous chips HPA, and embedded programmable eFPGA.

As of September 2019, the company has achieved sales exceeding 10 million yuan, surpassing the total for the previous year. In addition to the mass-produced 40nm FPGA chips, the company is also focusing on mid-to-high-end FPGA products and has begun developing new generation 28nm/22nm FPGA products.

2. Shanghai Aoge Semiconductor: Entering the Ecosystem from Compilation Software

Shanghai Aoge Semiconductor (AGM) was established two years earlier than Jingwei Qili and is a provider of mid-to-low-end, low-density FPGA chips.

The company was founded by a team from a well-known programmable logic chip company in Silicon Valley, USA, and experienced domestic engineers, starting with the development of proprietary compilation software that is compatible with existing FPGA software ecosystems.

In its first two years, the AGM team, without any background, squeezed into a co-working space in Zhangjiang, Shanghai, quietly refining products and providing trials to customers.

After seeing the rise of smartphones, AGM launched an FPGA chip for smartphones and the Internet of Things, passing Samsung’s stringent supplier testing and certification, becoming the only alternative FPGA device for Samsung Galaxy phones besides Lattice, achieving a zero breakthrough for domestic FPGA companies in exports.

After nearly a few years of product iterations and market expansion, AGM has gradually accumulated a stable customer base and formed multiple product lines targeting CPLD, FPGA, FPGA + CPU, SoC, etc., covering consumer electronics, industrial, communications, AI computing, and other markets, becoming a standout “dark horse” in the domestic FPGA field.

3. Guangdong Gaoyun: The First 28nm Mid-to-High Density FPGA

Compared to AGM, Guangdong Gaoyun Semiconductor may have a relatively higher profile in the domestic FPGA market.

Its CEO Zhu Jinghui and SVP Song Ning both worked at Lattice. Zhu Jinghui graduated from Tsinghua University and worked at Lattice from 1996 to 2011, participating in the development of seven generations of FPGA products; Song Ning has held senior engineering positions at both Lattice and Cadence.

Currently, its R&D team has over a hundred people and has established R&D centers in Silicon Valley, Shanghai, and Jinan. The core technical staff has an average of over 15 years of experience in core FPGA software and hardware technology development, and its products have penetrated more than a dozen industries, applied in communications, industrial control, consumer electronics, and other fields.

Since its establishment in 2014, Gaoyun Semiconductor has insisted on forward design, successively launching the Chenxi, Xiaomifeng families, and four series of FPGA products, covering 11 models and more than 50 types of packaging, along with proprietary EDA development software that continues to improve.

In the first quarter of 2015, the company mass-produced the first domestically industrialized 55nm process 4 million gate mid-density FPGA chip and opened its development software for download. In the first quarter of 2016, it successfully launched the first domestically produced 55nm embedded Flash SRAM non-volatile FPGA chip. In 2018, Gaoyun announced the successful development of China’s first 28nm mid-to-high density FPGA chip GW3AT-100.

In 2019, Gaoyun Semiconductor took an important step towards expanding into emerging computing platforms, achieving the productization of heterogeneous SoC FPGA and launching various FPGA products supporting Arm and RISC-V soft/hard cores, on this basis, Gaoyun Semiconductor developed the GoAI solution, improving performance by over 78 times compared to the standalone use of Cortex-M class microcontrollers.

FPGA Domestic Manufacturers vs. Foreign Manufacturers

4. Shenzhen Unisoc: High-Performance FPGA Mass-Produced for Commercial Use

Anlu Technology, Unisoc, and Gaoyun Semiconductor have been referred to by Taiwanese media as the “three horse-drawn carriages of domestic FPGA”.

Unisoc is a subsidiary of Unisoc Group, established in 2013, with over a decade of experience in the research and development of programmable logic devices, covering high, medium, and low-end FPGA products.

Unisoc has the capability for large-scale FPGA full-process development and design, with its market covering aerospace, communications networks, information security, AI, data centers, and industrial IoT.

As early as 2015, Unisoc successfully launched the first domestically produced high-performance FPGA chip Titan series, achieving a scale of tens of millions of gates, using 40nm technology, with programmable logic resources reaching up to 180,000, widely applied in communications, information security, and other fields.

The high-end FPGA product PGT180H from the Titan series has been supplied in bulk to many leading domestic communication equipment manufacturers, with sales of this model reaching nearly 100 million yuan last year.

In March of this year, Unisoc launched the Logos-2 series of cost-effective FPGA, using 28nm CMOS technology, with a 50% performance improvement compared to the previous generation 40nm Logos series FPGA, and a 40% reduction in total power consumption, meeting the application needs of industrial automation, IoT, and video image processing, which has been mass-produced and shipped.

5. Xi’an Zhiduojing: Xiaomi as the Fourth Largest Shareholder

Last September, Xiaomi’s Changjiang Xiaomi Industry Fund invested 2.277 million yuan in Zhiduojing, holding 9.26% of the shares, becoming the fourth largest shareholder of Zhiduojing.

The founder of Zhiduojing, Jia Hong, is also a Tsinghua University student, having entered Tsinghua University in 1982, studied in the US in 1992, and in 2012 returned to his hometown in Shaanxi with like-minded friends to start a business in the rapidly developing Xi’an High-tech Zone, founding Zhiduojing, which also has an EDA software research center in Beijing.

The founding team has over 20 years of experience in FPGA design and manufacturing, having worked for leading companies in this field overseas and serving as technical leaders in various professional fields.

Zhiduojing successfully developed the first self-owned intelligent FPGA chip with independent intellectual property rights in October 2013, reportedly becoming the fifth team to cross the technical threshold after four American companies.

FPGA Domestic Manufacturers vs. Foreign Manufacturers

▲Zhiduojing Exhibition Booth

Zhiduojing has currently achieved mass production of 55nm and 40nm mid-density FPGA and has targeted integrated solutions with embedded Flash and SDRAM. As of 2018, it has shipped 2KK pieces in bulk, and the sales of chips in 2019 are expected to exceed 100 million yuan.

Zhiduojing’s current products, such as the Seagull 1000 series CPLD chips and Sealion 2000 series FPGA chips, have been recognized by the market, with cumulative shipments exceeding 10 million pieces since 2017.

Its products cover markets including LED drivers, video surveillance, image processing, smart instruments, industrial control, 4G/5G communication networks, and data centers, and have established partnerships with several well-known companies such as Fujitsu, Nova Electronics, and Hikvision, also beginning to develop and test intelligent face recognition chips.

Last year, the company actively planned the R&D of 28nm FPGA chips.

Additionally, Zhiduojing acquired Beijing Piaoshi Technology, the pioneer of platform-based FPGA software solutions, in 2017 to further improve its software layout. Piaoshi Technology, established in 2007, has participated in or independently completed software support for the development of over 10 series and nearly 30 mainstream FPGA manufacturers and FPGA startup companies.

6. Shanghai Anlu Technology: 28nm to be Supplied in Bulk This Year

On May 19, 2020, at the Shanghai Science and Technology Awards Conference, Shanghai Anlu Technology’s project “R&D and Industrialization of Autonomous FPGA Based on Hybrid Grain Logic Structure” won the third prize of the 2019 Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Award.

Established in 2011, Anlu Technology is headquartered in Zhangjiang, Shanghai. In 2014, it received investment from CITIC Capital, in 2015 from Hangzhou Silan Microelectronics and Shenzhen Skyworth Group, and in 2017 from Huada Semiconductor and Shanghai Technology Strategic Investment.

As of early 2019, Anlu Technology’s team has expanded from 120 to over 200 people, with mass-produced and in-development products covering mid-to-low-end, targeting data centers, AI, communications, industrial control, video surveillance, and other fields.

FPGA Domestic Manufacturers vs. Foreign Manufacturers

Previously, Anlu Technology’s mid-performance FPGA chips successfully entered the LED display control card market and the high-definition television TCON control card market, and plans to deepen cooperation with domestic communication companies.

In 2019, Shanghai Anlu Technology achieved a threefold increase in performance and entered the mainstream communication market. FPGA products achieved coverage of key models in medium and small capacities, capable of replacing most foreign counterparts, while Anlu’s large-capacity devices are also under intense development.

Its FPGA has transitioned from 55/40nm to the mainstream 28nm process platform, achieving significant improvements in device performance and capacity, which correspondingly raises the requirements for FPGA compilation software and IP. The 28nm devices are expected to be supplied in bulk in 2020.

In terms of supply, Anlu has adopted a domestic supply chain, with most chip design, production, packaging, and testing taking place domestically, offering significant advantages in supply cycles.

In an interview with the media earlier this year, Anlu Technology’s General Manager Wen Yubo mentioned that the company, while meeting the needs of communications and industrial control, has also placed a small number of chips in the consumer electronics market. In cases where the prices are equivalent to international advanced devices, customers are willing to prioritize Anlu’s chips due to their better performance and quality compared to foreign competitors.

According to public reports, Anlu Technology expects to achieve mass production of 10 million gate products in 2020 and complete the development of 50 million gate products.

7. Chengdu Huawai Technology: Originating from the National “909” Project

Chengdu Huawai Technology is a national “909” project integrated circuit design company and one of the first certified integrated circuit design enterprises in China, registered in March 2000.

The company was jointly invested and founded by Huada Group, Chengdu University of Electronic Science and Technology Park, Chengdu Innovation Venture Capital, and the Chengdu Huawai employee team, and is a military-civilian integration enterprise located in Chengdu, specializing in microelectronics, computers, communications, electronic information, and software.

Its R&D team has formed a joint attack team with the large shareholder’s unit, the integrated circuit design center of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, establishing a strong research and development cooperation platform.

Chengdu Huawai Technology mainly engages in the development of programmable logic devices, system-level chips, memory, AD/DA chips, power management devices, etc., continuously undertaking national major projects in FPGA during the 11th, 12th, and 13th Five-Year Plans, and is a leader in the field of programmable logic devices and high-speed high-precision ADC/DAC in China.

Currently, Chengdu Huawai Technology is the design technology innovation center for heterogeneous programmable systems on chip of China Electronics Technology Group.

8. Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics: Ultra-Large Scale Billion-Gate FPGA

On March 20 of this year, Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics announced its guidance filing, with CITIC Securities as the guidance agency, aiming for an IPO on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board.

Founded in 1998 at the Yifu Building of Fudan University, Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2000 and plans to list on the A-share market in 2019, changing its guidance agency this year to sprint for the Sci-Tech Innovation Board.

The company has nearly 20 years of research and development in the FPGA field and is one of the few research institutions in China that independently develops FPGA.

In the early days, Fudan Microelectronics developed a billion-gate FPGA product with independent intellectual property rights, breaking through high-reliability designs based on traditional integrated circuit design, and its high-reliability performance has been tested to be internationally leading. This series of products has been successfully applied in major engineering projects such as China’s satellite navigation and manned spaceflight.

In May 2018, at the Second China University Science and Technology Achievements Trading Fair, Fudan Microelectronics launched a new generation of billion-gate FPGA products with independent intellectual property rights, filling the gap in the domestic ultra-large scale billion-gate FPGA market, with various indicators reaching the advanced level of similar international products.

———— / END / ————

Note:If there are any omissions or errors, please correct them. Contact information is as follows:

Submission email: [email protected]

ITTBANK Customer Service Hotline: 25839333

Statement: Please indicate the source when reprinting!

FPGA Domestic Manufacturers vs. Foreign Manufacturers

Click “Read the original text” to enter the ITTBANK WeChat Mall

FPGA Domestic Manufacturers vs. Foreign Manufacturers

Related posts:

Leave a Comment Cancel reply