April 2013
GigaDevice launches the first Arm Cortex MCU in China.
Today, nine years later:
Leading the MCU market in China with a cumulative shipment of 1 billion units.
In the connection between technology and life,
we explore fearlessly, we are everywhere.
We are pleased to join hands with you to announce that
1 billion GD32 is coming to you, let’s witness our future together!
According to the annual report of company, GigaDevice has shipped nearly 400 million MCUs in 2021, compared to nearly 200 million in 2020 and doubling continuously for 2 years whilst maintaining the record of ranking first in the domestic 32-bit MCU market in China for 7 consecutive years. These accumulated shipments of over 1 billion microcontrollers have been widely used in various markets over the past 9 years such as industrial automation, motor control, inverters, consumer electronics, Internet of Things, mobile products, communication networks, portable medical and automotive peripherals etc. From low power consumption to high performance in real time, GD32 MCUs are available to meet the full range of user needs for embedded development and design.
Excellent Market Performance
Since 2013, GigaDevice has expanded the GD32 MCU family covering 35 series and more than 450 product numbers in 9 years, successfully building a complete general-purpose MCU ecosystem for high, mid and low-end markets around the Arm core, highlighting its strong capability and experience base to serve the general market.
At the same time, GigaDevice has created five "firsts" in the history of MCU development in China - the first Cortex-M3 core MCU in China in April 2013; the first Cortex-M4 core MCU in China in June 2016; the first Cortex-M23 core MCU in China in October 2018; the first RSIC-V core general-purpose MCU in the world in August 2019; and the first Cortex-M33 core MCU in China in July 2020.
A glimpse of GigaDevice's strong presence in the MCU market can be seen in the cumulative 1 billion units shipped in 9 years. "As the MCU market leader, we value and have worked together in partnership with our outstanding customers around the world to drive this important milestone." Eric Jin, Director of Product Marketing at GigaDevice, said, "The key to the GD32's success is the continuous leading product technology and a flexible and effective marketing strategy. We have now achieved shipments of 16 units per second, and will continue to enhance GD32's capacity support and technology reserves to meet the greater industry opportunities and challenges ahead." This also reflects a long-term strategy plan within the company.
The driving force behind the unprecedented performance in 2021 comes from the following three aspects. Mr. Eric Jin said,
▶ Firstly, the continuous improvement of demand for hot applications in the market. From various intelligent applications (industrial manufacturing, motor drive, AIoT), to 5G communications, new smart home appliances, anti-epidemic protection, to new energy industry (photovoltaic inverter, energy storage, battery management, power grid), automotive modernization, the booming development of emerging markets has brought great development and imagination space for MCU market.
▶ Second, the long-standing strategy of coordinating resources across multiple production lines to ensure a steady increase in capacity to support the continued expansion of customer demand in various fields.
▶ Third, the GD32L233 series of low-power MCUs, GD32W515 series of Wi-Fi MCUs, GD32F310 series of entry-level MCUs, and GD32F30x series of mainstream MCUs are the new products and new models in mass production one after another, continuous iteration and upgrading, thus bringing more business opportunities to enter and increase the share of more market segments such as industrial metering, battery-powered, instrumentation, smart home and AIoT.
This analysis is supported by the continued bullishness of analysts on the MCU market in the coming years. The latest IC Insights forecast predicts that the global MCU market will grow by 10% in 2022, reaching a record high of US$21.5 billion. Sales of 32-bit MCUs are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9.4% over the next five years, reaching US$28.5 billion by 2026. The average selling price of MCU will also continue to rise, with a compound annual growth rate of 3.5%. The scale of China's MCU market has reached US$4.2 billion in 2019, accounting for about 26% of the global market. The latest report released by Yole Développement also said that MCU prices rose more than expected in 2021 and to continue to rise in 2022. This is unlikely to fall significantly before 2026.
MCU Market History and Forecast(Image Resource: IC insights 2022)
Mr. Eric Jin introduced that in line with the trend of intelligent networking, GD32 will continue to cut into more subdivided vertical markets, relying on a product matrix composed of ultra-low power consumption, wireless integration, ultra-high computing power and automotive-grade MCU The combination of "surface-to-point" covers the "general + vertical" market, which has become the core product layout idea of GigaDevice for a period of time in the future.
It is not enough to have excellent products. As a representative of the "ecosystem" products, how much room for the MCU industry to improve depends largely on the degree of construction and perfection of the ecosystem. It also represents the strength of the support and services provided to customers.
"Therefore, the continuous strengthening of the ecosystem construction has always been the top priority of GigaDevice’s development philosophy. We have been committed to building an open and inclusive, self-renewing and circular ecosystem including original manufacturers, distribution partners, end users, IDHs, universities, research institutions and many other parties to better serve industrial applications." Eric Jin pointed out that for every player in the MCU market, providing customers with stronger and better service support through the ecosystem allows them to quickly get started with the MCU, shorten the product design cycle and speed up the time to market, while having easy access to development materials, documentation, middleware, development boards, reference designs and technical training, so that they can quickly solve the problems encountered in design and easily realise your creative vision. It is also the core embodiment of GD32's ecosystem-leadership and value empowerment.
Opportunities and Challenges of Our Time
As we all know, the semiconductor industry has experienced an unprecedented wave of "shortages and price increases" in the past two years, and the use of mature process MCUs is at the top of the wave, resulting in consumer electronics, industrial, automotive and many other industries struggling. Among them, automotive-grade MCUs from overseas semiconductor majors are the most in demand, with skyrocketing prices and long lead times. According to the "Q4 Market Trends Report" released by Arrow Electronics at the end of 2021, the global lead time for 8-bit MCUs is 30-48 weeks and for 32-bit MCUs is 24-41 weeks. Since Q1 2022, overseas chip shortages and price increases have continued with no headroom in sight, adding to the nervousness of the market.
Boosting production capacity and securing supply has become the starting point for GigaDevice last year. After all, the reality of supply shortages has made domestic users realise that relying solely on overseas brands is no longer viable. Overseas manufacturers also need to prioritize the stability of their local supply chains, and if this is coupled with uncontrollable factors such as shutdowns and city closures brought about by the epidemic, it is becoming very difficult to secure supplies for overseas markets like China.
However, this brings development opportunities for domestic MCU companies. In order to ensure stable supply, GigaDevice has taken full advantage of its strong supply chain and adopted a strategic layout of multi-production line resources, both in the front-end wafer fabs and back-end packaging and testing fabs, and adopted an overseas/domestic multi-resource synergy plan that allows simultaneous production to ensure maximum capacity and flexible deployment, so as to solve the "pain" of core shortage for GD32 users This will provide GD32 users with a solution to the "pain" of core shortage and increase supply security. At the same time, thanks to strong domestic epidemic prevention and control, this not only ensures the normal operation of the entire process from wafer to packaging, but also facilitates the implementation of unified quality system standards in all aspects of manufacturing, which has led many domestic users to give preference to local chips for design and development.
Looking to the future, as semiconductors themselves are an industry with cyclical ups and downs, it is normal for demand to exceed supply or supply to exceed demand for a period and there is no need to over-interpret. Specific to the MCU industry, the current market situation means that the supply situation for the entire chain is expected to remain tight this year, resulting in longer lead times and higher prices. However, for GD32 MCUs, the new production capacity is still being released this year and the supply is more stable and secure, creating a "shortcut" for engineers to migrate and replace, and escorting the continued development of our customers.
Bridging the Industrial 'Divide'
Based on nearly 20 years of experience in MCU market development and service, Mr. Eric Jin said that we are aware of the user habits and expectations of the products. For general-purpose MCUs, once the product range is small or the coverage is insufficient, it means risk because customers need to familiarize themselves with the new product, re-layout the hardware, adjust the control method, change the development tools, everything must be adapted from scratch and the risk is too much. Therefore, they will first measure whether your MCU product is sustainable.
On the other hand, users value the "soft" power of the original factory, including quality system construction, quality control capabilities (yield rate, product consistency, reliability), continuous supply capabilities, and service support within the product life cycle, R&D investment ability and continuous supply guarantee ability of hundreds of products, etc.
According to relevant information, there is a big difference between the application distribution of the Chinese and global MCU markets: in the global MCU market, automotive electronics accounts for the highest percentage of 33%, followed by industrial medical control, computer networks and consumer electronics; while in the Chinese MCU market, consumer electronics accounts for the highest percentage of 26%, while automotive and industry are the second and third.
The reason for this difference is not hard to understand. In the past, Chinese companies were generally OEMs doing OEM projects with weak R&D and innovation capabilities, and those cost-sensitive consumer applications were the best entry points. But now the situation is changing. In many fields such as new energy vehicles, photovoltaic power generation, smart cities, AIoT, e-payment, etc., some technologies that used to be in the hands of European and American manufacturers are shifting to the Chinese market, giving Chinese companies the opportunity to overtake or change lanes, and many are becoming leaders in their industries.
The same situation is also happening in the MCU industry. At present, many domestic MCU manufacturers hope to get rid of the past only in the "short and fast" market to make a quick buck, and actively build up strength to the high-end market impact, to achieve "cost-sensitive + high-end applications" double-driven situation. Of course, this requires companies to have deep technical reserves, but also important to have some foresight and anticipation of the market.
Mr. Eric Jin said that after several rounds of market waves, MCU users have already passed the period of "only focusing on product parameters and price", and the past practices of price being the king and a one-size-fits-all approach are becoming more and more outdated. In the future, customers will only be more concerned about whether the MCU roadmap is in line with their own application development direction, whether the product design and quality is sound and robust without quality problems and other worries. Serving an increasing number of branded customers with quality products is the basis for the formation of strategic cooperation between companies.
The leap from 'good' to 'excellent'
The current situation of China's IC design industry is that it has passed the stage of “from nothing to something” and is on the road of “from something to good” and “from good to excellent”. As the No.1 domestic MCU manufacturer in China, how does GigaDevice understand "good" and "excellent"? Or what level of achievement can be called "good" or "excellent"? Naturally, the market is focused on this.
In response, Mr. Eric Jin said that a good market performance is certainly something to be proud of. However, if we look at the global market, China's MCU market share only accounts for 1/3 of the total global share. And even in the domestic market, the top customers have been occupied by overseas manufacturers such as Europe, the US and Japan for a long time, and the market share of domestic manufacturers is relatively low. In the case of 32-bit MCUs, for example, the five major manufacturers - STMicroelectronics, NXP, Microchip, Renesas and Infineon - have a combined market share of nearly 60%.
This means that for China's leading MCU manufacturers such as GigaDevice, in the future, to achieve the leap from "from something to good" and "from good to excellent". It is important to think not only domestically, but also actively think about how to move steadily from domestic to international, how to find more opportunities to serve overseas customers, and how to shift from "China's No. 1" to a global leader.
In fact, from the perspective of overseas layout and scale, in recent years, GigaDevice has set up branches in Europe, the United States, Asia Pacific and many other places, and related international service capabilities such as product planning, mass production scale, quality system, delivery efficiency, technical support and distribution network have been significantly enhanced, and the demand for GD32 products and solutions from internationally renowned companies has increased year by year.
Taking product quality, which is most important to users, as an example, GD32 MCUs are subjected to stringent failure rate tests, EMI immunity tests and three-temperature full-function tests before shipment, which is unmatched by many manufacturers and is also essential foundation for companies to provide international services. Just because it can fulfill its quality commitment to international users, more and more international partners are willing to join GigaDevice's MCU ecosystem, supporting the company's development in various ways to better serve global customers.
It is because of the ability to deliver on quality promises to international users that more and more international partners are willing to join the MCU eco-family of GigaDevice, supporting the company's development in various ways to better serve global customers.
GigaDevice is also expanding from its previous expertise in storage (including Flash, DRAM and some new memories), control (MCU ecosystem) and sensors to a new architecture of "sensing, storing, computing, controlling and connectivity", and through the synergistic effect of products and applications, to achieve the ability of system integration and linkage. At the same time, GigaDevice launched GD30 series of analog signal chain ICs such as Power Management (PMIC), Gate Driver (MOSFET gate driver) and Lithium Battery Charging Management (BMS/Charger) around MCU-related applications, hoping to create a one-stop differentiated competitive advantage in the market through a more comprehensive product family and more segmented solutions.
As 5G, AI and IoT continue to innovate and the complexity of electronic systems continues to increase, this leap in role from product technology-oriented company to system convergence capability provider is evident and essential.
With the continuous innovation of 5G, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, and the increasing complexity of electronic systems, this transition from a product technology-oriented company to a system integration capability provider is obvious and indispensable. For example, many AI applications require real-time perception of the surrounding environment, location, and other information, requiring more sensors to capture more information on images, environment, location, biometrics, etc. When these massive amounts of data are collected at the edge side, the system requires high computing power and more real-time control systems for execution and processing, while maintaining lower power consumption, which has also become an innovative challenge for GD32.
Catching the Wind for a New Start
Standing at the new starting point of 1 billion shipments, the industrial and automotive markets are still the two major areas that GigaDevice is optimistic about.
"The industrial market has a large base size, relatively stable customer demand, and high requirements for product performance, reliability and stability. It has always been the market where we continue to make efforts.” Mr. Eric Jin introduced, “The proportion of industrial customer applications is close to half of GD32's annual shipment, and it is continuing to increase." We will continue to support high-precision, strong real-time industrial control and high-performance data processing, provide total solutions for motor control (MCU+driver+signal chain), enhancing digital power and energy storage management, and comprehensively deploying various fields of infrastructure.
In the prospective market of automotive-grade MCUs, GigaDevice's strategy is a simultaneous expansion in the OEM and aftermarket installation businesses - for the OEM market, a new series supporting automotive-grade MCU certification and safety standards are expected to be launched for body-customer electronics (BCM) applications within this year; for aftermarket installation, it includes existing in-car audio and video, navigation, OBD, EDR, new energy body and peripheral applications. In the automotive aftermarket, the MCU series will include the existing in-car audio/video, navigation, OBD, EDR, new energy body and peripheral application scenarios.
Currently, the Electrical and Electronic Architecture (EEA) of automobiles is undergoing a development process from Distributed, to DCU based centralized, and then to DCU fusion basedzonal. Applications such as smart cockpit, high-precision navigation, and body electronics have greatly increased the demand for MCUs. Although some after-market companies can use industrial MCU products, in order to meet the huge opportunities brought by the automotive modernization. Proprietary designed automotive-grade MCU products are still the first choice for top manufacturers such as GigaDevice.
IC Insights data shows that automotive MCU sales jumped 23 percent to a record US$7.6 billion in 2021 during the economic recovery, followed by 14 percent growth in 2022 and 16 percent growth in 2023. Of this, more than three-quarters of automotive MCU sales come from the 32-bit MCU, at approximately $5.8 billion, as shown in the chart below.
Image Resource: IC insights
When broken down by application segments, automotive infotainment (retrieving digital maps from the Internet and satellite transmissions, identifying vehicle location, accessing data entertainment and information systems) accounts for 10% of automotive MCU sales in 2021 (approximately US$780 million), while microcontrollers for other segments (engine control, powertrain, brakes, steering, power windows, battery management, etc.) account for 90% (USD 6.8 billion). So it's easy to see why MCU manufacturers, including GigaDevice, are looking at automotive as the next "gold mine".
Mr. Eric Jin introduced that GigaDevice will continue to increase its investment in the automotive-grade development ecosystem on the basis of existing resources, including providing typical automotive application solutions (e.g. seats, rearview mirrors, lights, body electronic control), reference designs, codes, assisting users to pass the reliability standard AEC-Q100 series, quality management standard IATF16949 certification, functional safety standard ISO26262 ASILB(D) vehicle certification tests, etc., to accelerate the familiarity, application and mass production of Arm MCU for automotive users.
Different from manufacturers who use private core architecture to build their products, GD32's product advantage also comes from the existing rich MCU ecosystem. In other words, as part of the entire ecosystem, automotive-grade products and industrial products are in the same line in terms of development tools and supporting software, achieving maximum compatibility and reuse, which can effectively save development time and reduce development difficulties.
In terms of vertical market cultivation, as the first manufacturer to launch two series of E232/E501 and six types of dedicated MCUs in the field of optical modules, GigaDevice believes that with the implementation of the national strategy, data center, optical fiber communication, 5G base station and other industries will usher in an unparalleled development opportunity. Optical modules as the most important transmission component, will further explode the market demand, and GD32 will have more advantages in performance and cost. In future, the ultra-high computing power series of MCUs will develop in the direction of frequency performance above 800MHz, dual-core and integrated AI acceleration algorithm to meet the needs of industrial inverters, drones, smart home appliances and other industrial applications.
All the pasts are prologues. As a leader in China's MCU market, GD32 MCUs takes "product + ecosystem" as the core driving force, continues to evolve on the journey of building product technology, industrial ecosystem and talent training program, finding the right pace, and releasing more potential in a market full of variables. GD32 hopes to serve everyone in the vast world, to witness the future together and to set sail in the digital wave!