Rockchip: A leader in high-performance SoCs, empowering AI in consumer and smart IoT.
The company was established in 2001 and has long been dedicated to the research and development of system-level SoC chips. It is one of the few integrated circuit design companies in China with independent R&D capabilities and mastery of core technologies. As a leader in AIoT SoCs in China, the company actively leverages its various technologies, products, and scenarios in the AIoT field to create multi-scenario computing AIoT platforms for downstream customers, collaborating with partners to deeply engage in application scenarios and empower various industries with AI.
The company has been deeply involved in large-scale integrated circuit design for over twenty years, accumulating profound technical expertise and rich industry market experience. It has also been recognized as a high-tech enterprise and a national enterprise technology center. The company always focuses on market orientation and technological innovation, adhering to the development direction of “large audio, large video, large perception, and large software”. It insists on independent innovation of core technologies, and its product line currently covers numerous downstream fields such as automotive electronics, machine vision, industrial applications, commercial finance, smart home, and consumer electronics. Relying on a rich chip matrix and software algorithm layout, the company can provide more targeted chip products and solutions for the terminal market, accumulating a good brand reputation both domestically and internationally, establishing long-term cooperative relationships with thousands of terminal customers, including Alibaba, BYD, Baidu, GAC, Inovance, Ecovacs, OPPO, Xiaomi, and others.
Benefiting from the recovery of the semiconductor industry, the company has seen a collective growth across its product lines led by the flagship chip RK3588, with performance returning to high growth in the first three quarters of 2024, with revenue and net profit attributable to the parent company increasing by 48% and 357% year-on-year, respectively. Additionally, the company’s actual controller has rich industry experience, and the management team has a high proportion of core technical personnel.
SoC Chips: A myriad of downstream markets, AI waves opening new frontiers.
With the rapid development of semiconductor technology, mobile internet, and smart hardware, traditional microprocessor systems struggle to meet the demands of smart devices. SoC chips, which are multifunctional, high-performance, low-power, and highly flexible, have emerged as a solution.
SoC (System on Chip) refers to a system-level chip designed to achieve specific system functions. It integrates a complete information processing system onto a single chip through collaborative hardware and software development. Typically, SoCs encompass the full functionality of both digital and analog circuit systems, including complete control systems and embedded software. SoC chip products have a very high level of integration, usually covering various functional modules such as CPU, GPU, and RAM, with some also integrating power management and external device control modules. Compared to traditional microprocessor systems, SoCs have significant advantages in performance and power consumption, currently dominating the terminal chip market and gradually expanding into broader application fields.
The rapid development of the AI industry is driving stable growth in demand for SoC chips in downstream industries such as consumer electronics, smart vehicles, smart healthcare, and smart manufacturing, gradually breaking the ceiling of the SoC chip market. According to a report by Mordor Intelligence, the SoC market is expected to grow to $274.13 billion by 2030, with an average annual growth rate of 8.01% from 2025 to 2030. The empowerment of AI in consumer electronics will also bring innovative upgrades to the consumer electronics industry, driving the industry into a new recovery cycle, with traditional sectors like home appliances and wearable devices opening new chapters.
AI is generating new demands, and new scenarios are leading the growth of the SoC market. The demand for intelligent cabins is expected to drive both volume and price increases for smart cockpit SoCs, while automation and image acquisition/detection will boost the scale of the machine vision SoC market.
The flagship chip is iterating in response to trends, laying out supporting platform solutions. With the rapid rise of AI applications, the demand for edge terminal computing power in AIoT scenarios is expected to grow rapidly. In line with the wave of terminal computing power demand, the company’s flagship chip continues to iterate, from the RK3288 launched in 2014 to the third-generation flagship chip RK3588 launched in 2021, with the chip process upgraded from 28nm to 8nm; during this period, the chip CPU architecture has gradually evolved from a 4-core all-big core to an 8-core big.LITTLE architecture; NPU computing power has progressed from non-existent to 6 TOPS in RK3588.
Capitalizing on the opportunities brought by forward-looking layouts, the company firmly grasps the trend of AI transformation in traditional industries. Its multi-tiered AIoT SoC product line, driven by the flagship chip, continues to expand its market share in sectors such as electronics, education, office, and finance. Additionally, the company is actively venturing into new fields such as robotics. High-end SoCs like RK3588 can meet the data processing, visual inspection, and intelligent application needs of various types of robots, with multiple chips already applied in various forms of robotic products, such as industrial robots and companion robots.
Focusing on intelligent processing chips, forming a “yin-yang mutual assistance” strategy. While continuously investing and improving the AIoT SoC series chip matrix, the company also adheres to a “yin-yang mutual assistance” development strategy, launching peripheral chips to complement the AIoT SoC series, such as power management chips, interface conversion chips, and wireless connection chips, providing customers with more competitive, comprehensive platform solutions.
During 2023, the company is advancing the research and production of peripheral chips such as the interface conversion chip RK628F, wireless connection chip RK960, audio CODEC chip RK730, and audio amplifier chips, while upgrading and iterating PMIC products to achieve better performance.
Investment Recommendation: We expect the net profit attributable to the parent company of Rockchip to be 593 million, 854 million, and 1.131 billion yuan for 2024-2026, corresponding to a current price PE of 116, 80, and 61 times. As a leading SoC enterprise in China, relying on high-intensity R&D and a comprehensive product matrix, the company is seizing market opportunities in emerging fields such as automotive electronics, robotics, and machine vision. We are optimistic about the company’s long-term growth and initiate coverage with a “recommend” rating.
This is an excerpt from the report, the original report:
“Rockchip (603893) In-Depth Report: SoC Leader, Central to Edge Computing and Robotics – Minsheng Securities [Fang Jing, Li Shaoqing] – 20250421 [40 pages]”
Please click the “Read Original” link below to jump to the [Value Directory] computer site for download and reading.