There Is a Serious Shortage of High-end Photoelectric Chips in China, and the Market Is Dominated by Broadcom and Mitsubishi

China is the most important optical communication country in the world and plays an important role in the field of optical fiber and cable. However, there is still much room for progress in the field of optical devices, especially optical communication chips, especially high-end photoelectric chips.High end photoelectric chip is the largest short boardIn the process of optical communication transmission, the transmitter converts electrical signals into optical signals, and then modulates them to the laser to send out laser beams, transmitting them through optical fibers, and then converts them into electrical signals at the receiving end, and then transforms them into electrical signals. After modulation and demodulation, it changes into information, and the role of photoelectric chips plays the role of mutual conversion between electrical signals and optical signals. It is the core of photoelectric technology products and is at the top of the pyramid in the field of optical communication.

At present, there are not many enterprises that can produce photoelectric chips in China, about 30, most of which can produce low-end chips in large quantities.Only a few manufacturers such as Guangxun technology, Hisense, Huawei and beacon can produce medium and high-end chips, but the overall supply is limited, accounting for less than 1% of the market. High end chips are heavily dependent on us and Japanese companies such as Broadcom and Mitsubishi.Wei Leping, director of China Telecom Science and Technology Commission, said that among the core construction costs of optical networks such as routers, base stations, transmission systems and access networks, the cost of optical devices accounts for as much as 60-80%. The core reason for the high cost of optical devices is that high-end chips can not be fully localized and need to be imported, Therefore, high-end photoelectric chips should become the key point that China's optical communication industry needs to overcome.

What's the problemChina's optoelectronic chip industry is relatively backward, which is related to both internal R & D strength and external environment.In terms of internal research and development, photoelectric chip is a highly integrated component, which includes laser, modulator, coupler, beam splitter, wavelength division multiplexer, detector and so on. At present, there are two kinds of chip packaging solutions in the industry, one is III-V family and the other is silicon optical. The technology of the former is relatively mature and has mature monolithic integration solutions, and the laser integration and packaging solutions of the latter are still perfect.

Generally speaking, the development process of photoelectric chip can be divided into three links: epitaxial material design, epitaxial material growth and back-end process preparation. Epitaxial material design refers to the design of chip epitaxial structure to meet the application requirements with the help of simulation software. The preparation of epitaxial materials refers to the use of relevant ways to grow epitaxial materials that meet the design requirements. Its quality is often an important factor affecting the performance of optical chips. The back-end process is to make epitaxial materials into photoelectric chips with certain surface structure by using semiconductor related processes.

Compared with foreign countries, China has some deficiencies in the R & D, design, flow processing and packaging of photoelectric chips. According to the technology development roadmap of China's optoelectronic device industry (2018-2022) released by China electronic components industry association, domestic enterprises have only mastered the manufacturing process of lasers, detectors and modulator chips with a rate of 10Gb / s and below, as well as the design and sealing capacity of PLC / AWG chips, and there is still a large gap between the overall level and international benchmark enterprises, In particular, the capacity of high-end chips is more than 1-2 generations behind that of developed countries in the United States and Japan. Moreover, China's optoelectronic chip streaming processing also relies heavily on the United States, Singapore, Canada and other countries.

In terms of external environment, China is still a new entrant in the global electronic information industry. According to the law of industrial development, new entrants must start from relatively easy industrial links such as complete machines and systems. Dr. Zhu Shaoxin, director of chaomo Research Office of integrated circuit Research Institute of CCID think tank, told the reporter of communication industry news (online). China's current industrial stage determines that complete machine and system enterprises will give priority to purchasing optical chips from global leading suppliers, so as to relax their determination to independently develop chips.Obviously, the R & D process of photoelectric chips is extremely complex, which requires not only certain technology accumulation, but also large investment. The R & D and production cycle are also long, especially for high-end chips. This means that it is difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises to make a difference in the R & D of high-end photoelectric chips, and even large enterprises do not get enough user feedback and timely error correction in the R & D process, which is somewhat inadequate in the commercial process.How to break through

To conquer high-end chips, we must first break the strange circle that domestic communication equipment manufacturers are unwilling to use and R & D manufacturers dare not invest heavily. This requires increasing investment in information infrastructure construction, coordinating industrial layout, improving enterprise living environment and creating a good industrial ecology.In addition, Mao Qian, honorary director of the optical communication committee of the China Communications Society and director of the Asia Pacific optical communication committee, believes that the chip process is very complex, the success of the process has a lot to do with people, and cultivating and attracting high-tech talents is also a top priority.Zhu Shaoxin suggested that domestic communication equipment enterprises should judge the current international situation, strengthen the R & D of independent products, make use of system advantages and increase the proportion of trial and error. We should also take advantage of the east wind of optical chips to start their application in consumer electronics (such as VCSEL optical chips for face recognition), give play to the advantages of technical reserves, increase the product and market layout, and enhance the competitiveness of optical chip products by means of market.

Fortunately, many domestic enterprises and scientific research institutes have taken the lead in laying out the field of photoelectric chips and achieved certain results. For example, Wuhan academy of Posts and telecommunications and other scientific research institutions have been deeply engaged in the field of optical devices for many years and have deep technical reserves. As early as 2013, Huawei Hisilicon joined the chip battlefield by acquiring caliopa, a Belgian silicon photonic company, and later acquired CIP, a British photonic integration company. At present, the company has mastered 100g optical module technology and is ready to further overcome difficulties and achieve mass production.

Fiberhome's lightfast technology recently launched 120gcxp module and 100gqsfp28sr4 module, which is the first time to realize the chip localization of 100g rate optical module in China. In addition, Hisense and Huagong technology are cultivating the high-end photoelectric chip market.However, it will take a long time for the above-mentioned enterprises to realize internal procurement of all chip products. Zhu Shaoxin stressed that for China's optical chip development, some necessary "credits" still need to be completed.Wait for the flowers to bloom with the heart of a craftsman

In China's optical communication industry chain, the optoelectronic chip industry has been hovering at the low end. Some data show that the domestic rate of 10Gb / s and below rate optical chips can reach more than 80%, but 25gb / s and above rate optical chips are in an industrial depression. This is so similar to the mobile phone chip industry that people can't help but wonder, can't China really play this high-tech thing?The answer must be No. In fact, China is at the forefront of the world in many industries, such as high-speed rail and aerospace industry, which shows that China also has the possibility to be at the forefront of the world in the field of chips, but it just takes time.In fact, any high-tech product needs the accumulation of capital and time, which is exactly the case in China's photoelectric chip industry. After all, this is an industry that needs the integration and packaging of precision instruments at the nano level. What it needs is the long-term accumulation of technology, but also needs to withstand loneliness and capital consumption. As long as we recognize this, are willing to invest and spend a lot of energy to layout the industry, we will win the final victory.

I believe that China's optoelectronic chip industry will successfully enter the high-end and lead the world, because this is the best reward for waiting patiently.