By hmimcu 
Recently, data released by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) of the United States showed that in global chip sales in 2022, analog chip sales increased by 7.5% year-on-year, reaching $89 billion, making it the category with the largest sales growth among all chip categories. Analog chips continue to grow in waves of turmoil.
In the semiconductor cycle of history, analog chips have withstood the industry’s cold wave time and time again due to their diverse models and widespread use. In the production mode, analog chips are very different from digital chips, and IDM is currently the preferred mode for analog chip manufacturers. The top ten analog manufacturers in the world, represented by Texas Instruments and Adeno, all adopt IDM mode.
Due to the different requirements for wafer manufacturing between analog and digital chips, the manufacturing of analog chips is more concerned with the performance indicators of chip products. In IDM mode, simulation manufacturers can debug their own processes based on product requirements, making the integration of design and process closer. In addition, IDM company can also simultaneously carry out product design and process research and development work, and the R&D design department and manufacturing department can communicate quickly to shorten development time.
Industry insiders once said, “Generally speaking, 70% of the success of digital chips lies in design, and 30% lies in the assistance of process platforms. For analog chips, the contribution of process platforms is much higher than 30%.” This highlights the importance of process platforms for analog chips. It is precisely these factors that make the IDM model popular among international analog chip manufacturers.
However, the threshold for IDM mode is relatively high, and the entire process of chip design and manufacturing is still a huge expense for domestic enterprises. Therefore, there are very few IDM mode enterprises in China, let alone IDM mode analog chip enterprises. With the development of IDM, Foundry, and Fabless, many people are now exploring new chip manufacturing models.
01
Virtual IDM
Virtual IDM (Virtual IDM) is a new approach being explored by simulation vendors. In this mode, relevant enterprises not only focus on integrated circuit design, but also have their own process platforms. Wafer manufacturers can be required to cooperate in importing unique manufacturing processes and proprietary equipment, but the production line itself does not belong to the design manufacturer.
This approach has three major advantages. First, compared with the IDM model, virtual IDM reduces the initial entry cost of integrated circuit design enterprises. Since it does not need to organize wafer manufacturing and other production and processing links, enterprises have less investment in fixed assets, and can focus on integrated circuit design and sales links, making their own operation easier and more flexible.
Secondly, compared to Fabless manufacturers, virtual IDM companies can continuously improve the performance of their process platforms, match the manufacturing level with chip development needs, achieve optimal chip performance, higher reliability and efficiency, and better penetrate emerging application fields such as communication electronics and automotive electronics.
Thirdly, it enables better collaborative optimization of design processes, accelerates product iteration, and enhances market competitiveness. General chip design companies design products based on the common process platform of wafer factories. Due to the relatively lagging iteration cycle of wafer factory process platforms, there are certain differences in platform related indicators, parameters, and performance compared to the self owned process platforms of international advanced design manufacturers, resulting in competitive disadvantages in terms of performance, reliability, and efficiency of the products produced. Virtual IDM can further speed up the update of iterative chip products by virtue of its self-developed process platform, and continue to maintain the progressiveness of products in the market.
However, virtual IDM also has its development barriers. On the one hand, wafer fabs need to believe that chip design companies have the ability to adjust virtual IDM processes, and ensure that the adjusted processes are mainstream in the market and can contribute sufficient revenue. On the other hand, adjusting the process is difficult and time-consuming, which puts higher demands on chip design companies involved.
Virtual IDM was not proposed this year. As early as 2017, the Topology Industry Research Institute under TrendForce said that it is expected that the semiconductor industry in Chinese Mainland will integrate in the three major fields of manufacturing, design, and packaging and testing in a “virtual IDM” manner in 2017.
In China, there is currently only one simulation manufacturer that has been listed and claims to use virtual IDM. Jiehuate adopts a virtual IDM mode in its mode and has collaborated with major cooperating wafer factories to develop internationally advanced self owned BCD process platforms.
In addition, Guangzhou Yuexin Semiconductor, which has not yet been listed, also implements Virtual IDM (Virtual IDM) as its operating strategy, providing users with products such as microprocessors, power management chips, analog chips, and power discrete devices to meet the demand for analog chips in innovative applications such as the Internet of Things, automotive electronics, artificial intelligence, and 5G. Recently, Yuexin Semiconductor has announced the completion of the B-round strategic financing.
02
Shared IDM mode
Apart from the virtual IDM mode, the shared IDM (CIDM) mode has also been mentioned.
CIDM was first created by overseas companies, and the entire model has been practiced in many places such as Singapore, the United States, and Taiwan. TECH is a well-known CIDM company, which is jointly invested by four companies: Texas Instruments (TI), Singapore Government Economic Development Bureau (EDS), Canon, and Hewlett Packard. The company mainly produces storage and plans to achieve profitability on the basis of meeting its own demand for DRAM.
Zhang Rujing once introduced: CIDM is different from virtual IDM. CIDM is a joint investment by several design companies to establish Fab, which actually owns a OEM factory and can reasonably plan the production capacity structure based on the actual needs of each design company. This is a shared and shared IDM company. Virtual IDM refers to a design company that entrusts products to a OEM factory for processing and production, but the production capacity of the OEM factory is specifically used to meet the needs of the design company, and this part of the production capacity cannot be given Used by other companies. So, the advantages of CIDM are shared by everyone, shared resources, shared risks, greatly increased collaborative capabilities, and many benefits
The first CIDM enterprise in China is Xinen (Qingdao) Integrated Circuit Co., Ltd., a semiconductor enterprise jointly funded by more than 10 individual enterprises. In December 2019, the main building of Xin’en Building 6 was roofed, and the 8-inch factory equipment began to be moved in. In August 2021, Xin En held an oath ceremony in Qingdao. At the meeting, it was officially announced that the 8-inch factory had successfully produced power devices with a yield of over 90%. The mask factory also completed product delivery during the same period.
Ji Minghua, vice president of Sien R&D, said that Sien uses the PDK (process kit) of the European IDM factory, and it will not compete with the foundry.
Ji Minghua emphasized: The PDK of each generation factory is different. In today’s business model, due to the isolation of resources, there are many barriers, and the operational efficiency of the entire industrial system is not high. The goal of CIDM is to gradually break these barriers and achieve maximum resource sharing. The ideal state is that Fabs, including the generation factory, can share their own PDK, which can accelerate research and development progress and improve efficiency
03
Debate on Fablite
Virtual IDM and shared IDM are new ways for the semiconductor industry to address wafer manufacturing issues, but there is another “old” model that has been adopted by many simulation companies – Fablite.
Fablite, also evolved from IDM, is a strategy for enterprises to reduce investment risk by “asset lightweight”. IDM companies transfer some of their manufacturing business to third-party manufacturers (such as Qorvo, Skyworks, etc.), while retaining some of their own manufacturing business.
In an interview, when discussing the IDM model, TSMC founder Zhang Zhongmou said, “I don’t agree with how many large IDM companies there are in Europe. I don’t quite agree with the word ‘large’. There is currently no real IDM in the world, and IDM has become a Fablite
In fact, 10 years ago, the Fablite model had already been proposed. European analog chip companies, such as NXP, the original Freescale, ST, and Infineon, have implemented the Fablite strategy earlier. For example, after Enzip acquired Freescale in 2015, it rarely launched other major acquisitions, but instead continued to divest some businesses; Ruineng Semiconductor and Enzhipu also participated in the funding construction at the beginning, but later withdrew completely. Polong (Hefei) Co., Ltd. was also established through the acquisition of Enzhipu RF Business Unit; On August 16, 2019, Huiding Technology acquired the Voice and Audio Application Solutions (VAS) business under Enzipu.
Analog chip giant Texas Instruments also selectively adopts the Fablite mode, using outsourcing cooperation in 32nm processes and below, and no longer investing in building wafer factories themselves. Silicon wafers are in sizes of 6 inches and 12 inches, while Texas Instruments is actively expanding production. In 2017, Texas Instruments outsourced the production of 65nm chips to Lianhua Electronics, while SMIC produced 130nm chips for Texas Instruments. However, the final metal coating of the wafer was still carried out at Texas Instruments’ own factory.
Japanese analog chip companies such as Toshiba, Reza, Sony, and Fujitsu have gradually joined the Fablite camp. Ruisa executive Sailesh Chittipedi stated that although the company still adheres to its independent chip manufacturing plan, advanced process nodes will choose to be outsourced to foundries such as TSMC. He said, “In the long run, we will have to rely on third parties for more advanced nodes. For any chip that is more advanced than a mature process of 40 nanometers, we must rely on OEM partners
At present, many simulation manufacturers in China are exploring the Fab Lite business model, such as Zhuosheng Micro starting to build their own filter production, Siripu starting to build their own testing center, and Shengbang Microelectronics also establishing wholly-owned subsidiaries to establish testing projects.
However, whether it is the simplification of simulation factories from IDM to Fablite mode (simplified wafer factories are not equivalent to no wafer factories), or the exploration of virtual IDM and shared IDM by simulation design enterprises, all demonstrate the importance of manufacturing in simulation chips for chips. The three major models of IDM, Foundry, and Fabless have a long history. Whether there can be a more flexible and suitable distribution method for different enterprises’ own manufacturing in the future requires simulation manufacturers to constantly try and innovate.