When it comes to Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), the market often thinks of Xilinx under AMD, the PSG division under Intel, and Lattice Semiconductor as the major providers. However, in recent years, Chinese companies have started to emerge, gradually gaining ground in the FPGA field.
Gowin Semiconductor is one of the few Chinese chip design firms capable of independently developing FPGAs. Since its establishment in 2014 nearly ten years ago, Gowin Semiconductor has grown to about 250 employees. Jason Zhu, the CEO of Gowin Semiconductor, said that the Company was founded in a period of rapid development in China's internet industry. Investors had less interest in the relatively obscure FPGA field. However, Gowin did not only aim to satisfy the Chinese market demand from the beginning; it also sought to meet the needs of other regional markets as part of its long-term strategy. Hence, the Company initially invested in FPGA products with TSMC's 55nm process. Although this process was not the most advanced at the time, TSMC had introduced various versions including low-power consumption and embedded flash memory in their 55nm process, enabling Gowin to launch different grades of product lines according to market demands.
Despite Using TSMC's 55nm Process, Product Still Boasts Market Differentiation and Competitiveness
Jason Zhu pointed out that Gowin tried to find a suitable product strategy for its positioning at the time. Even though the 55nm process was used, Gowin offered more than double the number of I/O counts compared with other competitors of the same class. Gowin's chip reliability was greatly improved coupled with the high stability of TSMC's process, which significantly outperforms other foundries in terms of process variation. The chip reliability enabled Gowin to easily gain AEC-Q100 certification and quickly enter the automotive market. Jason Zhu also noted that Gowin has been widely accepted by many customers in recent years due to the shortage caused by the pandemic. Customers became aware of Gowin while seeking for alternatives and were further attracted by shorter delivery times. Effective technical support from various dealers also played a crucial role. These factors have gradually led to market recognition of Gowin's technical capabilities. To date, Gowin has shipped over 3 million automotive products.
Diversified Collaboration in the Automotive Sector, Open to Any Cooperation Possibilities
Speaking of developments in the automotive market, Jason Zhu revealed that China's electric car market has been thriving in recent years. Car manufacturers have a high degree of control over power transmission systems and often opt for independent development rather than relying on other suppliers. Under the premise, SAIC Motor of China once utilized Gowin's FPGA for gearbox development. In regard to IGBT-related system design, some Chinese car manufacturers have adopted Gowin's FPGA chips instead of the traditional designs using automotive MCUs (Micro Control Units) to reduce overall system costs.
For vehicle cockpit system applications, Gowin collaborates with well-known processor companies such as MediaTek and UNISOC. Jason Zhu pointed out that traditional automotive processors have a relatively limited number of MIPI design channels. However, the current development of vehicle cockpit systems has moved towards multi-screen output. As processors from MediaTek and other SOC vendors struggle to effectively respond to multi-screen output, Gowin's FPGA can overcome this problem. Playing a similar bridging role in the development of ADAS and autonomous vehicles, how can signals from automotive sensors like cameras, radar, and LiDAR be processed by NVIDIA's GPU? In fact, most early automotive FPGA products did not include a MIPI interface; but Gowin's FPGA comes equipped with the MIPI interface, supporting at least six camera image inputs.
Moreover, automotive screen manufacturers are beginning to introduce miniLED technology, featuring local dimming that can instantly react to different brightness areas on the screen. Based on this demand, large car screen manufacturers like BOE and LG have started to cooperate with Gowin. Jason Zhu candidly stated that Gowin plans to attend an exhibition in Japan in the upcoming November, and BOE is willing to lend Gowin the design samples developed cooperatively for the exhibition.
The digital rearview mirror is another automotive system with great emphasis on instant reaction. Jason Zhu mentioned that the system design is complex, involving optical imaging technology for image capture from automotive cameras, to screen output in digital rear-view mirrors. Image correction on its own, which enables the driver to identify the objects instantly, already entails different professional fields and considerable technical difficulty. Not to mention the various weather changes that must be dealt with, such as rain and fog. Clear display on digital rearview mirrors is imperative in all these conditions. Thus, Gowin maintains a close cooperative relationship with relevant solution providers.
Actively Expanding into the Global Automotive Market Beyond Satisfying China's Domestic Demand
Regarding the future development of Gowin Semiconductor and the automotive electronics market, Jason Zhu clearly states that Gowin not only aims to meet the demand of the domestic market in China, but also has considerable ambitions for regions such as Europe, America, Japan, and Taiwan.
In Taiwan, for example, Gowin collaborates with local distributors and has substantial cooperation with leading providers of power supply and green energy solutions. In Japan, there are ongoing collaboration plans with top-tier car manufacturers. In the European and American markets, Gowin is currently working with German TÜV Rheinland to further obtain ISO 26262 functional safety certification for its products, facilitating quick entry into the supply chains of international car manufacturers.
Gowin also has a next-generation automotive FPGA, Arora V, set to launch soon. It's expected to adopt TSMC's 22nm automotive process, representing a significant upgrade from the previous 55nm technology. Naturally, this brings substantial improvements in terms of power consumption and performance. Jason Zhu candidly stated that the launch of Arora V aims to follow the successful formula of the previous generation while carving out a unique market position different from traditional FPGA giants, aiming to address many pain points in the development of secondary automotive systems. Moreover, Arora V has made significant advancements in SerDES (Serializer/Deserializer) technology, which may have the opportunity to disrupt the dominance of traditional IDM companies in high-speed signal transmission for automotive applications. In the field of electric vehicles, as the next-generation SiC power semiconductors gradually become mainstream in the market, Gowin does not rule out collaborating with leading international SiC component manufacturers in the fields of inverter and OBCs.
In summary, although Gowin Semiconductor is a rare Chinese FPGA chip design company with a history of only about ten years and a market share that is still not as substantial compared to international giants, Gowin's ambition in automotive and diverse vertical applications is still evident. The advent of its new 22nm product is expected to gradually strengthen its position in the FPGA market and provide more visibility.
Jason Zhu, CEO of Gowin Semiconductor, stated that the forthcoming next-generation automotive FPGA Arora V will likely use TSMC's 22nm automotive-grade process, hoping to follow the successful formula of the previous generation to address many pain points in the development of secondary vehicle systems.
Gowin Semiconductor's latest 22nm FPGA product series, Arora V, supports high-performance DSP for AI computations, high-speed LVDS interfaces, and ample BSRAM memory resources. Arora V simultaneously integrates an independently developed DDR3 interface and 12.5Gbps SERDES which supports various protocols, along with diverse packaging choices. It is highly suitable for applications in various industries, such as netcom, servers, industrial, medical, automotive, and power systems needs, etc.