In 2017, the growth rate of the global semiconductor industry hit a record high of 22% in the past 7 years. The overall market size exceeded the USD 400 billion mark and reached approximately US$420 billion. This is an exciting growth figure. Then, what kind of development trend will the global semiconductor industry take up in the future, whether it will grow steadily or whether it will be driven by hot applications such as artificial intelligence, autopilot, and internet of things? June 4, 2018 Xinsi Technology User Conference ( SNUG China) was held in Shanghai. Dr. Chen Zhikuan, president and co-chief executive of Synopsys Technology, was interviewed by a reporter from China Electronics News to discuss the future development of the semiconductor industry under the artificial intelligence and auto driving boom.
Semiconductor enters a new stage of development
In the speech of SNUG China, Dr. Chen Zhikuan pointed out: "In recent years, the global semiconductor industry has been gradually matured, showing three major trends: the transfer of hotspots from the United States and Europe to Asia Pacific, the intensified integration between companies, and artificial intelligence. And automotive electronics will grow into the main application market.
Specifically, the combination of industry and market is a major trend in the development of all industries, and semiconductors are no exception. In recent years, the market in the Asia Pacific region has developed rapidly. In particular, Mainland China has become the world's leading semiconductor market. It is not surprising that semiconductor companies are transferring to Asia Pacific. With the industrial transfer, mergers and acquisitions between semiconductor companies also set off a climax. In 2015, the amount of semiconductor industry mergers and acquisitions reached 100 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, 114 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, and 49 billion U.S. dollars in 2017. And there have been a number of super mergers and acquisitions among large semiconductor companies, showing that the semiconductor industry has entered a period of maturity. However, the maturity of the industry does not mean that there is no change in the industry. In fact, with the emergence of a series of hot applications such as artificial intelligence, automotive electronics, and the Internet of Things, the development of semiconductors is entering a new stage.
In this regard, Dr. Chen Zhikuan pointed out that "The artificial intelligence behind the software, algorithms and big data is the semiconductor chip's powerful computing capabilities and data storage capabilities and high-speed transmission capabilities of the communications network is supporting. Only with the support of semiconductor technology, artificial Intelligence has been able to develop so rapidly. Its development can in turn promote a variety of intelligent and innovative applications, including autonomous driving, IoT, etc. These applications in turn will drive the semiconductor industry to form a positive spiral feedback."
However, Dr. Chen Zhikuan also stated that it is precisely because of the maturity of the semiconductor industry that the global semiconductor industry has grown in size in recent decades, but the average annual growth rate has basically stabilized between 4% and 5%. Although all sectors are optimistic about the future development of artificial intelligence, automotive electronics and IoT, it is expected that the average annual growth rate of the semiconductor industry will maintain a low-speed and stable trend in the next decade.
Artificial intelligence has not been overheated
In the long run, artificial intelligence will certainly become one of the main applications that will drive the growth of the semiconductor industry. Dr. Chen Zhikuan believes that the semiconductor industry has experienced several glory days, and most of them have emerged from the use of one or two so-called killer applications. For example, the rapid development of personal computers, the Internet, and smart phones have all sparked a wave of semiconductors. The rapid development. The current industry generally believes that artificial intelligence has the potential to become a new killer application.
"To do artificial intelligence is to have a chip, which is an indispensable physical carrier. Artificial intelligence chips need to address two major factors: one is that the chip can adapt to the evolution of the algorithm, and the second is to have an innovative chip architecture that can adapt to as much as possible. Many applications As the world's leading provider of artificial intelligence chip solutions, Synopsys is leveraging the advantages of EDA and IP to explore solutions for algorithms, software and hardware co-design, and to promote efficient iterations of chip architecture and algorithm software. The integration of algorithms, software and hardware will accelerate the landing and popularization of artificial intelligence products,” Dr. Chen Zhikuan further pointed out.
At present, the artificial intelligence industry in China is developing in a flourishing manner. Many start-up companies, Internet companies, and traditional chip companies have begun to enter the artificial intelligence industry. But some people are starting to worry about whether AI will develop too hot?
In this regard, Dr. Chen Zhikuan believes that artificial intelligence is an industry with huge growth space. It is only at an early stage of development. This is true regardless of the market or technology, and it is still far from the development of the bottleneck period. Of course, the key to avoiding unnecessary speculation and stimulating growth is to look at how the practitioners actually operate.
Synopsys Technology Co., Ltd. started its creation in early 1986 and has always maintained its investment in artificial intelligence research and development. In the future, Synology will actively explore innovations in design methodology and promote the improvement of AI chip design capabilities.
Optimistic about the development of autopilot in China
With the development of automotive electronics, intelligence and networking, especially the continuous development of autopilot technology, the value curve of automobiles is turning to electronics and software. According to Dr. Chen Zhikuan, automotive electronics will become another driving force for the semiconductor industry. As for autopilot technology, Dr. Chen Zhikuan is very optimistic about the development prospects of China.
In this regard, Dr. Chen Zhikuan pointed out that the laws and regulations between the states of the United States vary widely, and that automatic driving will encounter different obstacles when landing in various states. Automated driving companies need to make appropriate adjustments to different states of law. Therefore, the landing speed of automatic driving in the United States will be very slow. Relatively speaking, the situation in China is different. China has unified laws and regulations, as well as more efficient and adaptable roads, which will promote the deployment of universal autopilot technology in China. At the same time, the Chinese government has seen the future trend of auto-pilot technology and has given it high attention and support.
However, Dr. Chen Zhikuan also pointed out that the development of automated driving involves a lot of hardware technology, but also contains a lot of software and data. Therefore, security issues are very important. This is a problem that all practitioners must pay attention to.
For the automotive market, Synopsys has a wide range of IP and EDA tools that comply with automotive safety regulations. Synopsys hopes to help many Chinese partners who are planning or entering the automotive electronics field to jointly understand and accelerate the development of the automotive electronics industry.
Always pay attention to IoT security
The scale of the IoT market is continuously expanding. Technology and applications range from automotive, home appliances, wearables, to transportation, energy, and industrial 4.0, and cover almost all industries. According to IC Insights data, the total output value of the Internet of Things with networking and sensing systems in 2015 was approximately USD 57.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19%, and by 2018 it is expected to reach USD 103.6 billion. However, because of the wide application of the Internet of Things and the close relationship with the personal life, in the era of big data, the Internet of Things will generate massive amounts of data information. How to maintain information security will become an important challenge for the industry. With the development of the Internet of Everything, security issues will be everywhere.
Xinsi Technology has been laying out the information security of the Internet of Things since 2014. Dr. Chen Zhikuan said: “The products in the connected world are increasingly emphasizing intelligence, such as autopilot, but we must realize that for users, safety is the first requirement. That is to say, ubiquitous object interconnections Indispensable, but protecting the IoT system from invasion is also crucial."
Synopsys' software sign-off solution runs through every aspect of the software R&D lifecycle. Each software has its own bug. Software updates are the process of discovering bugs and resolving bugs. Therefore, when people launch software, the market does not have strict criteria for judging, so the significance of Signoff is to use a scientific method to evaluate the quality standards of software products. Otherwise, when these softwares are used on aircrafts or automobiles, The bug will cause a very serious incident. The software sign-off scheme can solve the IoT equipment's security from the most fundamental aspect of software design and implementation, thereby increasing the security of IoT products and greatly improving the efficiency of research and development.
Synopsys' software monitoring, excavation, and authentication systems will enable Zimbabwe’s everything to operate safely. It is now widely used in finance, communications, and the Internet to provide security for smart linkages.
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