The so-called research and development of processors actually means designing mobile phone processors yourself. To complete the design, in addition to employees and equipment, you also need to purchase two things, one is EDA software, and the other is the authorization of the ARM instruction set architecture.
The role of EDA software, in short, is to allow chip designers (Hisilicon, Qualcomm, MediaTek, etc.) to design and verify on the computer, and at the same time directly connect with chip manufacturers (Samsung, TSMC, etc.) to design chips.
First, you need to run through the software before going to tape-out.
During this design and manufacturing process, the EDA software used will accumulate massive amounts of experience data. This is also an important reason why EDA software is difficult to replace, and it is naturally monopolistic.
At present, international EDA software is mainly monopolized by three companies: Synopsys, Cadence and Mentor. They are all U.S. companies and are an important field that will be choked by future generations.
There are also domestic manufacturers doing it, such as Huada Jiutian, Guilun Electronics, Changli Micro, etc., but they are not replaceable at present.
Mobile phone SOC design is mainly done by Synopsys, which, like Qualcomm, is headquartered in California. Gushici Company has purchased the software for a long time, and recently tried to conduct research and modifications based on the original processor from Datang. It has always been in contact with Synopsys, and Qualcomm has
There is a certain probability that I heard the news from this company.
ARM is a British company, and its main product is the ARM instruction set architecture.
Computer operation is essentially software performing operations on the basis of hardware. The instruction set architecture can be simply understood as a language and rules for communication between software and hardware.
If the content of the instruction set architecture is addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, then the hardware is responsible for making the circuits for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and the software uses addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to develop various functions and software. Both parties develop according to this rule, and each other does not have to worry about what the other party wants to do.
Well, it greatly improves efficiency.
The instruction set architecture is the basis for the large-scale use of computers. Before this, if you changed the computer model, the original software had to be rewritten. With the instruction set, all hardware devices that follow the same instruction set can run all devices that follow the same instruction set.
All software has led to the large-scale promotion and use of computers.
In 1964, IBM released the first Sysem/360 mainframe computer using the instruction set architecture. The original selling point was that there was no need to rewrite the software after changing computers.
In 1981, IBM released its first personal computer, the IBM 5150, which continued the instruction set concept. This computer used the Intel 8088 processor, which was a castrated version of the Intel 8086 processor. After the success of the IBM 5150, personal computer
As the computer market develops further, in order to ensure continuity, lagging processors of all generations have adopted the same instruction set architecture.
The naming of Intel's subsequent processors continued the name of 8086, such as,,... Therefore, this architecture is called the X86 architecture.
At the beginning of the development of personal computers, IBM had a very strong voice. After discovering that it had developed the instruction set architecture, the threshold for computers was lowered, and the importance of processor manufacturers was greatly increased. In order to prevent itself from changing from father to son, it asked Intel to
The X86 architecture is licensed to other manufacturers, including AMD.
Later, IBM discovered that it had two more fathers.
This architecture has been continued on all Intel processors currently and at the time of Wei Qingfan's rebirth. At the same time, with the development of the industry, it has become a common instruction set architecture in the global computer market.
There are also several manufacturers in China that make computer processors, and they also buy X86 architecture licenses. Loongson has a self-developed architecture, but even ten years later, it has not been promoted.
The dominance of X86 in the world is accompanied by the development of the computer industry. It is too difficult to promote another architecture after market promotion.
Another major camp of instruction set architecture, the ARM architecture, appeared in the 1980s because X86 is a complex instruction set architecture and ARM is a reduced instruction set architecture.
At the beginning of computer development, the X86 architecture was cheaper and more popular. However, with the development of the industry, especially after the compiler matured, the ARM architecture developed a pipeline mechanism, which has a huge advantage over X86.
Intel and AMD realized something was wrong, and both developed their own reduced instruction sets, but soon discovered that the advantages of X86 were too great, and the ARM architecture did not become popular.
In 1995, Intel engineers launched a decoder on the Pentium processor that matched the ARM pipeline mechanism, which offset the advantages of the ARM architecture's pipeline mechanism. In addition, the two generations of Windows95 and Windows98 systems equipped with this processor had a huge impact on personal computers.
The computers are killing everyone, and the win-tel alliance is officially formed.
At this point, the status of the X86 architecture is almost impossible to be shaken.
In 2006, Apple gave up RISC (reduced instruction set) processors and began to equip MacBooks with Intel processors, marking Intel's X86 architecture completely unifying the personal computer business.
This is where the change began.
During the process of this cooperation, Jobs proposed to Intel that Apple was developing a "little thing" and wanted to cooperate to customize a low-power processor.
Intel felt that this thing was unreliable. It was most likely that it was at the height of its power and high-spirited, so it didn't like it, so it rejected it directly.
Jobs had no choice but to turn to Samsung for cooperation, and finally adopted the S5L8900 processor based on the ARM11 architecture, and released that "little thing" in 2007.
It's called iPhone.
The charge of ARM architecture against X86 architecture has thus begun.
Since then, iPhones have always used Samsung's ARM architecture processors. When iPhone 4 was released in 2010, Apple customized its own A4 processor based on Samsung's Hummingbird processor (S5PC110) and officially embarked on the road of self-developed processors.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Before the iPhone was released, because there was no market promotion, the process technology of the ARM architecture lagged far behind the X86 architecture. The S5L8900 processor equipped with the first-generation iPhone in 2007
The 90nm process is used, while Intel processors of the same year have already adopted the 45nm process.
Since then, the smartphone trend led by the iPhone has adopted ARM architecture processors, and due to the size limitations of the mobile phone itself, the process technology of ARM architecture processors has embarked on a path of rapid development.
When discussing the pros and cons of architecture, process technology is an important factor that cannot be ignored. After Intel became dominant, it rested on its laurels and was slapped by AMD and Apple one after another. In addition to the two companies' own R&D capabilities, the advantages of process technology are indispensable.
At the beginning of this year (2012), Intel's third-generation Core i7-3770 processor used a 22nm process. The A6 on the iPhone 5 to be released in the fall used Samsung's 32nm process. Qualcomm's APQ8064 processor this year is already using a 28nm process.
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Intel still has an advantage at this time, but in two years, in 2014, ARM's high-end processors, such as Apple A8, Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 920, etc., will use the 20nm process.
Intel was still using the 22nm process at that time and had already been caught up.
In a few years, Intel will continue to polish its 14nm and 10nm processes, and ARM has already started working on the 3nm process, from catching up to surpassing, and then the gap is widening step by step.
It is no exaggeration to say that the emergence of the iPhone and the smartphone trend it led directly promoted the technological progress of ARM processors, and the advanced manufacturing technology further fed back the development of ARM processors in terms of performance and excellence.
During this period, ARM's biggest impact on X86 was the M1 processor released by Apple in 2020, which was installed on its own MacBook Air. It started the migration of Apple computers to ARM processors and marked the official offensive of ARM processors.
The home base of X86.
Prior to this, Qualcomm and Huawei had actually taken similar actions, but their influence was not at the same level.
Intel, which has been struggling with toothpaste for thousands of years, was stabbed by AMD and disgraced by Apple. It finally stood up from the state of making money and said: "Bring me the keyboard, labor and management have to get serious!
"
By that time, ARM seemed to have already suppressed X86, but the actual situation was not the case.
To distinguish between life and death.
But it is definitely a good thing for consumers.
However, when the development of the AMR architecture was in full swing, the ARM company itself did not grab the biggest piece of the cake during the development of the ARM architecture, so later generations of ARM companies wanted to change the licensing fee method and find ways to increase money.
——ARM architecture licensing is mostly based on processor price, and there are even permanent licenses. For example, Huawei bought a permanent license for the ARM V8 architecture.
But seeing that the prices of mobile phones are getting more and more expensive, Apple has also put ARM architecture processors into computers. This amount of money cannot satisfy ARM, so it wants to learn from Qualcomm and charge according to the product price.
Back to the present, today's ARM architecture is still in the process of development. ARM company does not have such big ambitions. After all, the cake has not grown big yet, and it is not yet time to grab the cake at all costs. It is still very happy with this situation. In ancient times,
Shici Company’s purchase of the V7 architecture license went smoothly.
Although ARM is a British company, it also has close ties with Qualcomm, so the possibility of rumors here cannot be ruled out.
No matter how you say it, Qualcomm is here and you have to find a way to respond.
Wei Qingfan is not worried about falling out. On the one hand, there are many processors available on the market today, and Qualcomm is far from having all the Android phone manufacturers line up to call him daddy like in later generations;
On the other hand, there are examples of Xiaomi and Huawei. Both companies maintained a cooperative relationship with Qualcomm at the beginning and after self-development of processors. Even when Kirin 980 and 990 were killing everyone, Huawei mobile phones
I have never broken a Qualcomm chip.
Business is all about making money.
What Wei Qingfan values more is the relationship with Qualcomm. Since the establishment of the company, Gushici mobile phones have always used Qualcomm processors, and the release time of Qualcomm processors is not consistent with the product release time of Gushici Company. He wanted to try it before
I hope I can cooperate with Qualcomm and see if I can get Qualcomm to cooperate and use high-end processors.
After this incident, there is probably not much hope.
In addition, he must consider the sanctions he may face in the long term and cannot worsen the relationship with Qualcomm, otherwise he will have to find ways to repair it in the future.
But no matter how you say it, it is impossible not to do self-research. Otherwise, it would be fine if Qualcomm could always make a magical U like Snapdragon 835. It would be fine if it could maintain the level of 855 and 865. It could just come up with 810 at every turn, or even
There are 888 and 8G1 that have overturned in two consecutive generations...
Xiaomi is the best example. Xiaomi note, Xiaomi 11, and Xiaomi 12 have reached highs three times in a row, but Qualcomm overturned.
Who can bear it?
In addition, the pace of product releases and ecological products have made Wei Qingfan unswervingly want to develop his own processor. Otherwise, according to the original schedule, Apple AirPods would have been released for five or six years, and the Android camp would still be
There is no wireless product that can provide the same experience.
The ability of headphone manufacturers is one thing. Qualcomm's inability to produce a low-power processor that can compete with the H1 on Apple's AirPods is also an important reason.
Huawei's watches and headphones can find different selling points and sales channels. The self-developed A1 processor is also an important factor. When the A1 is gone, the new watches and headphones will have a degraded experience in many aspects. The self-developed processor