Under the background of the continuous global “core shortage” Dilemma and the possible decoupling of the global supply chain caused by the Sino-US trade war, the localization and replacement of RF front-end devices are accelerating, and local manufacturers are emerging in the market. As an outstanding representative of domestic RF device manufacturers, Hangzhou Sappland Microelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Sappland Microelectronics”) has recently won two industry awards, becoming a local RF chip manufacturer who has won both of the “China MEMS industry innovation product award” and the “best RF chip Award”, showing that the localization ability of RF front-end devices is becoming more and more mature, and highly concerned by the industry. Sappland Microelectronics has also been continuously favored by the investment community with its excellent performance. Recently, it has completed a new round of financing of RMB 100 million. This round of financing is invested by Shenzhen Pengchenxunda, Wuxi Guolian Fund and Tibet Haole, and followed by its old shareholder, Yihe Capital.
Promote the localization of RF devices and win the “best RF Chip Award”
In the second half of this year, Sappland Microelectronics participated in the 2021 “Hardcore, China core” selection activity hosted by the new media platform Core Master (Xinshiye) of the whole semiconductor and electronic information industry chain. Based on the selection scores of 400,000 electronic engineers and 50 experts, Sappland Microelectronics stood out among more than 100 domestic core enterprises. Recently, the selection Party announced that Sappland Microelectronics has successfully won the award of “Hardcore China Core – the Best RF chip”.
In recent years, the demand for domestic RF chips in Chinese market has become increasingly strong. Driven by 5G, the market prospect of RF front-end devices is broad. The market capacity is expected to exceed $40 billion in the mature period of 5G. The value of single mobile phone RF devices exceeds $30. The filter market is the largest part of the RF front-end market, accounting for about 60%, and the demand growth is also the fastest. However, for a long time, the RF front-end chip market has been mainly monopolized by several international giants such as Skyworks, Qorvo, Broadcom and Murata, and the domestic self-sufficiency rate is low. China must get rid of the situation that RF front-end devices are controlled by others to win the global 5G competition.
The demand of 5G intelligent terminal for filter is developing towards miniaturization and highly integrated modularization. At present, filter, duplexer and multiplexer are the weak localization of the RF front-end module.This year, all the P50 series mobile phones newly launched by Huawei only support 4G, which was caused by the “5G RF filter supply” cut off. Therefore, it has exposed the weakness of domestic technology in medium and high-end domestic RF devices. With the increase of global market share of domestic mobile phone terminal manufacturers represented by Huawei and Xiaomi, the demand for control of upstream supply chain and “domestic substitution” will provide a trial platform for domestic RF front-end chip manufacturers.
Sappland Microelectronics was founded in 2016, focusing on filters and duplexers. After several years of research and development, it has become a rare local manufacturer in China that can develop and sell all kinds of RF filters (SAW/TC-SAW/ FBAR/ Modules). Sappland SAW filter / duplexer, GPS, WiFi filter and other products of various frequency bands developed by the enterprise have entered mass production and have been used by many well-known mobile phone ODM manufacturers and communication terminal manufacturers in China. At present, it has delivered nearly 100 million pieces, and Sappland DiFEM Module has also made great progress recently. With solid R & D and supply chain foundation, Sappland will provide China with diversified “hard China core” that truly meets the needs of the market.
Facing the new opportunities brought by the 5G era, Sappland Microelectronics focuses on medium and high-end products and has a number of product series to meet the different needs of high, medium and low frequency, including conventional SAW applied to low-frequency communication, TC-SAW applied to intermediate frequency communication, FBAR for high-frequency and self-developed RF front-end Module. In the RF front-end Module,Sappland Microelectronics can provide customers with a variety of RF module with high performance and high integration, such as DiVEM, FEMiD, PAiD, PAMiD, etc., which brings higher performance and less PCB area to 5G terminals. In addition, Sappland Microelectronics has also made relevant arrangement in MEMS filter technology in millimeter wave band.aidu.
Break through the high-end “neck” technology and win China MEMS innovative product award
In the late October of this year, Sappland Microelectronics was invited to participate in the “2021 China MEMS Manufacturing Conference and Micro Nano Manufacturing and Sensor Expo” which was held in Suzhou.And it won the “China MEMS Industry Innovation Product Award” with TC-SAW Duplexer.Sappland Microelectronics said that it will continue to do deeper research on key technologies, jointly expand innovation with the industry and help the progress and development of MEMS technology in China.
In the global RF filter market, conventional SAW filters are more popular in the medium and low frequency market, and the demand is greater. Therefore, the overall market pattern is dominated by conventional SAW devices. However, in some high frequency band, TC-SAW products are needed to make up for the insufficient performance of SAW. In 2020, Sappland Microelectronics took the lead position in launching TC-SAW products in China. It has the advantages of small size, low insertion loss and high working frequency (0.5Ghz-3Ghz). Its performance has reached the world-class level, filling the gap in China’s high-end RF filters, and is one of the important breakthroughs in the localization of filters. At present, with the mass production and shipment of the product, Sappland Microelectronics has also become one of the earliest manufacturers in China to officially start TC-SAW mass production.
The R&D strength of Sappland Microelectronics comes from the technical reserve and talent reserve accumulated over the years. Sappland Microelectronics now has dozens of patented technologies and first-class laboratory conditions.It integrates the global selected supply chain, and opens up the whole chain from R &D to production. In terms of team building, Sappland Microelectronics team is composed of high-level overseas talents. 15% of the R&D team have doctoral degrees. Team members span different professional disciplines and complement each other’s advantages, forming a close joint force to promote the breakthrough of key technologies.
Strive to become an international RF supplie
Faced with the success of this financing and winning two industry awards consecutively,Sappland Microelectronics said that in recent years, the domestic industrial environment and investment environment have been improving. The field of RF devices has attracted the attention of many investors. Customers and industry partners also have more recognition of the brand of domestic RF devices, making Sappland Microelectronics more confident in the development of RF front-end devices, Thank you for the high trust from investors.
Sappland Microelectronics believes that the technical routes will coexist in the market in the future, which also leads to the need for diversified products in the market. After this round of financing, Sappland Microelectronics will increase R&D investment and mass production of products, further make efforts in the depth of medium and high-end RF filters, and constantly enrich the diversification and serialization of products. Sappland Microelectronics aims to become an international RF supplier and is committed to “making Chinese core a world core”. In the next stage, Sappland Microelectronics will fully cover the products required by the domestic market, improve the medium and high-end RF filter , and strive to realize the localization substitution and break foreign monopoly. With the accumulation of technology and business development, Sappland Microelectronics is confident to break through 100 filter series products as soon as possible.
From the perspective of the rise of domestic RF chip enterprises, they are gradually accumulating and catching up in terms of technology, talents and capital. In the future, through the joint efforts with industrial partners, Chinese RF front-end device manufacturers will gradually break through the patent blockade and technical barriers of European and American countries, and the breakthrough of “China core” in the high-end market is just around the corner. We believe that the popularization and application of domestic RF devices in the Chinese market in the future will not keep you waiting too long.