There is a problem that everyone is very concerned about. Kirin 9 is obviously a SoC with integrated 5G baseband chips. Why doesn't Huawei P5 Pro support 5G networks? What is the reason?
the key here is the RF chip.
in 22, foreign media found that although this mobile phone had a high localization rate, its RF components still depended on American companies such as Qualcomm, Qorvo and Skyworks, which was equivalent to "blocking Huawei's neck".
For example, the world's first 5G RF chip was designed and developed by Qorvo, an American company.
yes, RF chip is one of the key technical fields where there is still a huge gap between China and foreign countries.
Moreover, although they obtained the supply license to Huawei later, this is a limited supply license, and the 5G RF chip is still under restriction.
radio frequency chip, simply understood, is a key component connecting the mobile phone baseband and the mobile phone antenna. It is mainly responsible for sending and receiving wireless information, including important components such as filters, power amplifiers, radio frequency switches and low noise amplifiers, and is called "the jewel in the crown of analog chips".
It is estimated that the revenue of RF chips in Qualcomm may reach 8% of the total revenue this year, and will continue to grow in the future.
by 222, the market scale of RF front-end chip module is expected to reach $22.7 billion, and with the rapid development of Internet of Things, the market scale of RF chip will further expand to $25.8 billion by 225.
At present, American and Japanese companies have highly monopolized the global RF chip market, accounting for more than 8% of the total share, while the share of domestic RF chips is still less than 1%, and the domestic self-sufficiency rate can be said to be quite low.
There is not only a gap in technical strength, but more importantly, RF chips are an important technology of "grinding a sword in ten years". Foreign giants have invested more than ten years in research and development and established quite high patent barriers, which makes it impossible for Chinese enterprises to catch up with foreign giants in a short time.
Of course, starting late does not mean that there is no good news.
In February this year, domestic RF front-end chips entered the supply chain of 5G mobile phones for the first time, which is the biggest progress of domestic RF front-end chips in recent two years, but there is still a huge gap with foreign giants in specific performance.
finally, the biggest advantage of knowing shortcomings is that you can know where to work. Since the shortcomings of domestic RF chips have become a key issue on the table, the next efforts, struggles and research will have a clear direction, and the results will be just around the corner.