TIANJIN, China, Nov. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- EE
Times-China, a leading electronic engineering title of
Global Sources' (NASDAQ: GSOL)
joint venture subsidiary, eMedia Asia Limited, has revealed the
results of its 13th annual China IC Design Survey
and seventh IC Design Awards. Survey findings show
marked improvement in the fabless industry's design capability: 29
percent of respondent companies utilize cutting-edge 28nm or below
process technologies for digital IC designs, more than quadrupling
from 7 percent in 2013. For analog and mixed-signal ICs, the use of
sophisticated 0.18μm or below technologies has also increased
substantially to 51 and 60 percent, respectively (2013: 44 and 43
percent, respectively).
Brandon Smith, Publisher of EE
Times-China, said: "The semiconductor industry is a strategic
sector supported by the Chinese government, and we have seen
continual growth in the scale of local fabless companies. In this
year's Survey, 34 percent reported annual sales of more than
US$50 million, a welcomed increase
from 22 percent last year. The average workforce has also
substantially expanded from 194 to 263, and the number of IC
designers from 109 to 160. While the typical fabless still lags
behind the world's top players in scale, the leading mainland China
IC design companies already see annual sales of more than
US$1 billion."
As part of the Survey, winners of the 2014
China IC Design Awards were selected through online voting
by local system design engineers, as well as by fabless companies
participating in the Survey and EE Times-China
analysts. The awards winners were announced at a dinner in
Tianjin on Nov. 21, where the Survey results were
unveiled to more than 150 executives from the semiconductor
industry. Jin Donghu, Vice Director of People's Government of
Tianjin Binhai New Area and Wang
Xuejia, Director of Development and Reform Bureau, Administrative
Commission of Tianjin Economic Technological Development Area
delivered speeches at the event and Ma
Xuan, Vice Secretary-General of Tianjin IC Industry
Association / Chief Engineer of Tianjin TEDA Science &
Technology Development Group as one of the awards presenters.
The China IC Leader Summit was
held to coincide with the award presentation, and the stellar
speaker lineup included:
- Marshal Cheng, Vice President,
Leadcore Technology
- Zhu Yiming,CEO and President, GigaDevice
- Zhou Zhengyu, CEO, Actions Semiconductor
- Zhang Fan, President,
Goodix
They discussed the future mainland China chips for smartphones, smart devices driven by the
mobile Internet, biometrics and sensor technologies, as well as the
ecosystem for IoT and smart home.
Smartphones and smart devices to drive IC development
Consumer electronics remains the main applications of mainland
China-designed ICs, led by tablet
PCs, mobile phones and set-top-boxes, although its share has
dropped to 47 percent this year from 60 percent in 2013. For
computer applications, the ratio of desktop and notebook computers
has dropped, and 16 percent of respondents supply ICs for
small-scale servers, which is a new option in this year's
survey.
The ratio of telecommunication applications, such as wireless
network and base station equipment, has risen significantly from 10
percent in 2013 to 19 percent this year. This growth is driven by
the issuance of 4G licenses in mainland China and the related construction of nearly a
million 4G base stations. Base station equipment was a newly added
option last year, and its ratio rises considerably to 17 percent
this year (2013: 6 percent).
EE Times-China analysts expect smartphones and smart
devices to continue to drive the local IC design industry, due to
the presence of numerous manufacturers in mainland China.
As for the use of foundries, the dominance of TSMC and SMIC has
greatly increased, with companies using them accounting for 40
percent and 32 percent, respectively (2013: both at 24 percent).
This could be because local fabless companies are more inclined to
choose sophisticated foundries to avoid the problem of inadequate
capacity.
Cost becomes the biggest challenge when IC design companies
contract foundries, although fewer state it as a major challenge
this year (2014: 45 percent, 2013: 54 percent).
Alongside the jump in company size, the proportion of IC design
engineers in China's fabless
companies has also grown. Conversely, the average number of
projects has dropped from 8.5 last year to seven this year. This is
caused by increasing design difficulty, faster time-to-market and
rising tapeout costs, and reflects the technology-intensive nature
of the IC design industry as well as the desire for first pass
silicon success. "We expect fabless companies will increasingly
reuse design, purchase third-party IP as well as outsource design
in the future," Smith added.
Already, more respondents indicate "insufficient IP library" as
a major challenge this year (34 percent, up from 28 percent in
2013) when working with foundries. And as many as 86 percent of IC
design companies use IP cores, increasing from 73 percent in 2013.
As such, design iterations have become a much bigger challenge
(rising to 22 percent this year from 4 percent in 2013).
Two challenges have also become more common this year:
communication with foundry (increasing to 33 percent of respondents
from last year's 24 percent) and incompatible process technology
(from 13 percent in 2013 to 18 percent in 2014). Both are related
to using more advanced process technologies.
The 2014 China IC Design Awards and China IC Leader
Summit are sponsored by TEDA-Tianjin
Economic and Technological Development Area, Synposys, Cadence, Silvaco, Actions
Semiconductor, Huntersun, DIOO Microcircuits, Leadcore Technology,
Mouser Electronics, VeriSilicon, and are supported by Global
Sources' Chief Executive China.
For more information on EE Times-China's 13th annual
China IC Design Survey, please visit
http://www.emrgresearch.com/.
2014 China IC Design Awards winners
revealed
2014 China IC Design Awards winners as voted by
mainland China's system design
engineers are (in alphabetical order):
- Top 5 China IC Design Brands: Dioo Microcircuits,
GigaDevice, Leadcore Technology, SGMICRO, and Spreadtrum
Communications (Shanghai)
- Top 5 Most Promising China IC Design Companies: Goodix,
HunterSun, Shenzhen Betterlife Electronic Science and Technology,
Shenzhen Chipsvision Micro, and Vimicro
- Top 5 Outstanding Technical Support: Cellix Revealing
Technology, CHIPONE, Ingenic Semiconductor, VeriSilicon
Microelectronics (Shanghai), and
Wuxi Si-Power Micro-electronics
Hot Products of the Year (in alphabetical order of
company names):
- Best Wireless/RF IC of the Year: Beken (BK5823),
HangZhou ZhongKe Microelectronics (ATGS01), and Vimicro (WS962x
series)
- Best Power Management of the Year: BYD Microelectronics
(BM3451/BM3452 series), EASE POWER (EDP103x/EDP23xx series), and
Wuxi Chipown Micro-electronic (PN8316/8317)
- Best Power Device/Driver IC of the Year: Shenzhen CYT
Opto-electronic Technology (CYT3000A), Giantec Semiconductor
(GT976X), and Shenzhen Chipsea Technologies (CSU8RP3429)
- Best Processor/FPGA of the Year: BLX IC Design
(GSC328x), Leadcore Technology (LC1860), and Spreadtrum
Communications (Shanghai)
(SC883XG)
- Best MCU/Memory/Interface IC of the Year: Hangzhou
Synochip Technologies (AS650), Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics
(FM330X), and WST (WS3085N)
- Best MEMS/Sensor of the Year: GalaxyCore (GC5004),
Goodix (GF66xx), and QST (QMC6983)
- Best Amplifier/Data Converter of the Year: 3PEAK
(TP55xx), SGMICRO (SGM8743), and Shenzhen Betterlife Electronic
Science and Technology (ECG detection chip)
Winners voted by companies participating in the
2014 China IC Design Survey are:
- Most Recognized Foundry: TSMC
- Outstanding Foundry of the Year: Semiconductor
Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC)
- Most Recognized EDA Vendor: Synopsys
- Outstanding EDA Vendor of the Year: Cadence
- Most Recognized IP Provider: ARM
- Outstanding IP Provider of the Year: Synopsys
Winners voted by EE Times-China analysts
are:
- China IC Design Company of the Year: Actions
Semiconductor, BYD Microelectronics, Capital Microelectronics,
FocalTech Systems, and HunterSun
- Innovative EDA Company of the Year: Altium and
Silvaco
- China IC Design Executive of the Year: Joseph Xie, General Manager of QST
Corporation
- China IC Design Team of the Year: VeriSilicon
Microelectronics (Shanghai)'s IC
Design Team, and Xi'an Semipower's Chip Design Team
For more information on the 2014 China IC Design
Awards, please visit
http://www.eet-china.com/chinafabless (in Chinese).
More information about Global Sources is available on the
company's corporate site (http://www.corporate.globalsources.com),
Facebook and Twitter (/globalsources).
About Global Sources
Global Sources is a leading business-to-business media company
and a primary facilitator of trade with Greater China.
The core business facilitates trade between Asia and the
world using English-language media such as online marketplaces
(GlobalSources.com), print and digital magazines, sourcing research
reports, private sourcing events, and trade shows.
More than 1 million international buyers, including 95 of the
world's top 100 retailers, use these services to obtain product and
company information to help them source more profitably from
overseas supply markets. These services also provide suppliers with
integrated marketing solutions to build corporate image, generate
sales leads and win orders from buyers in more than
240 countries and territories.
Global Sources' other businesses provide Chinese-language media
to companies selling to and within Greater China. These services include online
web sites, print and digital magazines, seminars and trade shows.
In mainland China, Global Sources
has a network of more than 30 office locations and a community of
more than 5 million registered online users and magazine readers of
its Chinese-language media.
Now in its fifth decade, Global Sources has been publicly listed
on the NASDAQ since 2000.
About eMedia Asia Limited
eMedia Asia Limited is a joint venture between Global Sources
(60.1%) and United Business Media's EETimes Group (39.9%).
eMedia Asia provides
500,000-plus technology decision-makers throughout Asia and China with access to a multichannel media
network. Through its technical events, publications and online
network, eMedia Asia leads in
providing the region's electronics community with the business and
technical information they need to remain competitive.
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