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Current Status and Development of Chinese Mobile Phone IC Design Houses

August 13, 2007 / China Research Team

23 Page, Topical Report

US$1,860 (Single User License)

Abstract

With strong domestic demand and support from the Chinese government, Chinese mobile phone IC design houses such as Spreadtrum, Vimicro, and RDA have seen substantial growth and expanded from value-line multimedia applications to baseband and RFIC designs. This report analyzes the current status and development of Chinese mobile phone IC design houses.

List of Topics

Current status and development of mobile phone IC design houses based in China, covering baseband IC providers and developers, RFIC designers, as well as multimedia application processor IC designers; analysis of respective product portfolios and clienteles.

Industry Overview
Baseband IC Design Houses
   Spreadtrum
   T3G
   Commit
   Other Baseband-Related Companies
RFIC Design Houses
   RDA Microelectronics
   Comlent
   Rising Micro-Electronics
   SWID
Multimedia Application Processor IC Design Houses
   Vimicro
   Fangtek
   Chipnuts
   Anyka
   Shanghai Jade Tech
MIC Perspective
Appendix

ADI, Agere Systems, Akkord, Amoi, Anyka, ARM, ASAT Holdings, ASE, Beijing Huahong IC Design, BenQ, Bird, Broadcom, CATT, CECT, CEVA, China Netcom, Chipnuts, Chongqing Chongyou Information Technology, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunication, Comlent, Commit, Datang Mobile, Datang Xinwei , DC Wireless, DFI, EMP, Fangtek, Freescale, Fujitsu, Haier, Hisense, Hongtaili, HP, Huizhou Qiao Xing Celbon Communication Technology, Hynix, Infineon, Inventec, JAZZ, Kesheng, Konka, Kyocera, Lenovo, LG, LSI, Maxim, MediaTek, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, NXP, OKI, Pantech, Philips, Potevio, Qualcomm, RDA Microelectronics, RFMD, Rising Micro Electronics, ROHM, Samsung, Sendo, Shanghai Jade Tech, Skyworks, SMIC, Spreadtrum, STC, SWID, Synopsys, T3G, TCL, TechFaith,TI, Tianwei, Tonieco, TSMC, UTAC, Vimicro, Yamaha, ZTE

List of Figures

Figure 1 T3G's TD-SCDMA IC Design Projects

Figure 2 Fangtek's Product Roadmap

List of Tables

Table 1 Other Chinese Mobile Phone Baseband IC Developers

Table 2 RDA's Product Lines

Table 3 Comlent's Product Lines

Table 4 Vimicro's Series 8 Products for Mobile Phones

Table 5 Chipnuts' Single-chip Coprocessor Products

Table 6 Anyka's Mobile Phone IC Products

The global GSM/GPRS mobile phone baseband product market is dominated by a few companies including TI, Qualcomm, EMP, Freescale, NXP, and Infineon. As the market shares of companies such as Broadcom, Agere Systems, and Skyworks have been on the decline, Chinese Spreadtrum has thrived instead for two reasons. The first is that the company's founders and R&D personnel have many years of experience in overseas management and development, and thus relatively strong technical R&D capabilities.

Second and more importantly, China's unique mobile phone industry and market structure - which includes black-market phone manufacturers and suppliers - has many small companies without technology of their own and these companies need low-priced turnkey solutions to facilitate their entry into the market. This is a market that has been overlooked by international baseband vendors, a fact that is now offering Chinese companies chances to grow.

Chinese RFIC manufacturers have benefited primarily from growth in China's PAS (Personal Access System; also known as PHS) and SCDMA markets, with PAS propelled by market demand and SCDMA receiving support from the government. These two markets have relatively low entry thresholds and have allowed Chinese companies to grow and accumulate R&D experience. By means of CMOS process technology, companies can also seek to enter the TD-SCDMA product market, which has been neglected by large international companies. So it is the niche markets created by government-supported domestic standards or special local markets that are nurturing the Chinese companies.

In addition, manufacturers of multimedia processor chips with A/V features face fewer technical challenges and a more open market, and have therefore adopted low-price strategies and found success in the mid-end and value-line product market.

The turnkey solutions provided by MediaTek and Spreadtrum are bundled with multimedia processing features and have nibbled away at the market, forcing other companies to focus on H.264 or MPEG4 features. Otherwise, these companies will have to collaborate with baseband manufacturers to create their own bundles, or expand into the development of applications other than mobile phones -- MP3 or PMP for example.

Appendix

Research Scope

This report focuses on mobile phone IC design houses based in China, including baseband IC provider Spreadtrum, T3G, and Commit and RFIC designers such as RDA and Comlent. Current development of multimedia application processor IC designers, such as Vimicro and Jade, is also included.

Glossary of Terms

3GPP		3rd Generation Partnership Project
ABB		Analog Baseband
ASIC		Application-Specific Integrated Circuit
BiCMOS		Bipolar Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor
CMOS		Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor
CO		Central Office
DA		Digital/Analog
DSP		Digital Signal Processor
EDGE		Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
FM		Frequency Modulation
GPIO		General Purpose Input/Output
GPRS		General Packet Radio Service
GSM		Global System for Mobile communications
HSDPA		High-Speed Downlink Packet Access
IF		Insertion Force
IPTV		Internet Protocol Television
ISP		Image Signal Processor
JTAG		Joint Test Action Group
LAN		Local Area Network
MCU		Microcontroller Unit
MMI		Man-Machine Interface
MMS		Multimedia Messaging Service
NZIF		Near-Zero Insertion Force
PA		Power Amplifier
PCS		Personal Communications Service
PAS		Personal Access System
PHS		Personal Handy-phone System
PMP		Portable Media Player
PWM		Pulse-Width Modulation
RF		Radio-Frequency
RFIC		Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuit
RISC		Reduced Instruction Set Computer
SCDMA		Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access
SD		Secure Digital
SDRAM		Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
SIM		Subscriber Identity Module
SoC		System-on-a-Chip
SRAM		Static Random Access Memory
TDMI		Thumb instruction, Debugger, Multiplier, ICE
TD-SCDMA		Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access
UART		Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter
USIM		Universal Subscriber Identity Module
VIP		Video/Image Processor
WAP		Wireless Application Protocol
WCDMA		Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
WiMAX		Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
ZIF		Zero Insertion Force

List of Companies

ADI
Agere Systems
Akkord		雅科國際
Amoi		廈新
Anyka		安凱
ARM
ASAT Holdings
ASE (Advanced Semiconductor Engineering)		日月光
Beijing Huahong IC Design		北京華虹集成電路設計
BenQ		明基
Bird		波導
Broadcom
CATT (China Academy of Telecommunications Technology)		中國科學技術研究院
CECT		中電通信
CEVA
China Netcom		中國網通
Chipnuts		智多微電子
Chongqing Chongyou Information Technology		重慶重郵信科
Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunication		重慶郵電大學
Comlent		鼎芯
Commit		凱明
Datang Mobile		大唐移動
Datang Xinwei		大唐信威
DC Wireless		北京達成
DFI		友通
EMP
Fangtek		方泰電子
Freescale
Fujitsu
Haier		海爾
Hisense		海信
Hantro
Hongtaili		宏泰利電子
HP
Huizhou Qiao Xing Celbon Communication Technology		僑興賽邦
Hynix
Infineon
Inventec		英業達
Jazz Semiconductor
Kesheng		科盛
Konka		康佳
Kyocera
Lenovo		聯想
LG
LSI
Maxim
MediaTek		聯發科
Microsoft
Motorola
Nokia
NXP
OKI
Pantech
Philips
Potevio		普天
Qualcomm
RDA Microelectronics		瑞迪科微電子
RFMD
Rising Micro Electronics		廣晟微電子
ROHM
Samsung
Sendo
Shanghai Jade Tech		上海傑得微電子
Skyworks
SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International)		中芯國際
Spreadtrum		展訊
STC
SWID (Southwest Integrated Circuit Design)		西南積體電路
Synopsys
T3G		天碁科技
TCL
TechFaith		德信
TI
Tianwei		天微
Tonieco		佳凱佳信
TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing)		台積電
UTAC (United Test and Assembly Center)		聯合科技
Vimicro		中星微
Yamaha
ZTE		中興

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