In the past more than a month, there have been three high-profile mergers and acquisitions in the global semiconductor industry, namely Qualcomm and NXP, Siemens and Mentor Graphics, Samsung Electronics and Harman InternaTIonal. The common keyword for these three mergers and acquisitions is: automotive electronics. The biggest growth thrust of the semiconductor industry in the next five years is not the Internet of Things, but the automotive electronics. The key is the content of siliconcontent. Although the Internet of Things application is huge, the silicon content is not high. In contrast, the silicon content of a car is very attractive. After the PC generation, smart phones are the driving force for semiconductor companies to climb to the peak. However, as the growth rate of mobile phones slows down, everyone is looking for the next growth engine. The Internet of Things is named the most, because the number of connections is very large. According to various statistics, the value of the Internet of Things is from tens of billions of dollars to more than one trillion dollars. The reason why smart phones can support the global semiconductor industry is because of the huge demand, plus enough connotation chips and saturated siliconcontent; global car shipments are not comparable to mobile phones, but a Tesla connotation of siliconcontent is a mobile phone. 5 to 10 times, but in contrast to the Internet of Things, its silicon content is very low. Worldwide, the annual shipment of smart phones is nearly 1.5 billion, which uses a variety of chips, and the core processor chips are built on the most advanced semiconductor processes, from 28 nm, 20 nm, 16/14. Nano, 10 nanometers, up to 7 nanometer process, with the amount of shipment plus the number of chips, and then calculate the effect of siliconcontent, it can be imagined that smart phones really hold up the semiconductor industry. However, in the era of the Internet of Things, although the number of connections is large, the silicon content is limited. With the most basic sensor, an 8-inch wafer can cut hundreds of thousands of sensor wafers, and the output value is not high. After conversion, it is possible to fill the entire IoT market without using a few 8-inch wafers. On the other hand, to produce the processor AP of the smart phone, a 12-inch wafer can only cut 400-600 quantities with the most advanced process, and the output value is extremely high. To meet the demand of 1.5 billion mobile phones worldwide, 12 is needed. The wafer production capacity is self-evident, which is why the mobile phone era is coming, and the semiconductor manufacturers have to expand production. Looking at the automotive industry, the traditional automotive industry does not use semiconductor chips, but with the changes in the entire automotive industry, a car's connotation of chips includes automatic driving assistance systems (ADAS), instrument panels, shock absorbers, exhaust systems. , car entertainment system, vehicle-based communication system, lane departure warning system (LaneDepartureWarningSystem), night vision system (NightVisionSystem), adaptive road lamp system (AdapTIveFront-lighTIngSystem), parking assistance system (ParkingAidSystem), vehicle anti-collision radar, etc. There are hundreds of chips in total. Although the global annual car shipments are at most 90 million units, compared with smart phones, it is only a fraction, but the future electric vehicle industry is coming. From the perspective of siliconcontent, it is estimated that a silicon content of a Tesla connotation is a mobile phone. 10 times. In the past month, three high-profile mergers and acquisitions in the world have been aimed at the layout of automotive electronics. Qualcomm recently acquired NXP, a European semiconductor chip company, for $47 billion, and acquired NXP's technologies and products in the automotive electronics, mixed-signal, microcontroller (MCU), Netcom and other markets, the most critical of which is NXP's automotive electronics. The relevant chip should be the biggest incentive for Qualcomm to eat NXP. According to the analysis, Qualcomm's current product line relies heavily on mobile phone-related communication chips. It is estimated that mobile communication products account for more than 60% of revenue. With the addition of NXP's product line, the proportion of Qualcomm's mobile communication chips can be reduced to less than 50%. The proportion of revenue related to automotive electronics and the Internet of Things is nearly 30%. In fact, in 2015, NXP bought Freescale for $12 billion in order to strengthen the layout of automotive electronics, allowing NXP to sit on the world's largest electronic chip for automotive electronics. Today, this electronic treasure house It fell into the hands of Qualcomm, and it is obvious that Qualcomm is optimistic about the next wave of growth momentum of the semiconductor industry in the future. It is from the automotive electronics, and can be connected to the business of its communication chips. Coincidentally, another industry has broken the deal of glasses. It is the German industrial giant Siemens bought the EDA company MentorGraphics for $4.5 billion. The difference in the initial case of the acquisition is that the two companies are not directly The relevance of Siemens' acquisition of a company that does EDA tools is very surprising. MentorGraphics is one of the world's three largest EDA tools, second only to Synopsys and Cadence, providing a wide range of design, simulation and manufacturing tools for semiconductor chip and system development. Siemens is specialized in global electrical and electronic engineering, and its main business scope. Across the industry, medical, transportation equipment, etc., Siemens bought an EDA tool company to make the market very unexpected. Siemens bought Mentor this time to strengthen the competitiveness of Siemens in automotive electronics software through the simulation and manufacturing capabilities of Mentor in IC design and system design. At the same time, Mentor has been very optimistic about the future growth of automotive electronics. Potential, so the layout is very early, and Germany is committed to the development of the electric vehicle industry, the acquisition of Mentor is also the industrial leader, Siemens began to accumulate competitiveness with various acquisitions. Another big purchase on the same day as Siemens purchased Mentor was Samsung’s $8 billion purchase of Harmon, a US auto parts supplier, and Samsung’s promotion to one of the world’s leading suppliers of automotive electronics. Founded in 1953, it was first developed in the audio industry. After that, the company changed its business direction and began to expand its layout into the automotive industry. Samsung is not the first test in the automotive industry. Samsung, which used to be the automaker, ended up collecting, but seeing that the electric vehicle industry will subvert the supply chain of the traditional auto industry in the future, it also contains huge auto electronics business opportunities, so Samsung is big at this time. It’s not surprising that the action bought Haman, but it’s just a color in the technology industry where the mergers and acquisitions are blooming. In addition, as early as in mid-2016, it was reported that Samsung intends to purchase and fly the auto parts company MagneTIMarelli of the FiatChrysler Group. It is obvious that in the layout of automotive electronics, Samsung is looking for prey. Samsung bought Harman and is known as the largest merger and acquisition case in the history of Samsung. Although Samsung has had sporadic purchases and acquisitions in various fields, it has indeed become less and less savvy to enter a certain field by means of mergers and acquisitions, but perhaps considering independent research and development. The way to cut into the car electronics is probably too slow, and it is easier to quickly acquire the existing automotive supply chain system. Although Samsung also has some automotive related departments, as well as some R&D teams that organize some automotive semiconductors. Twinkle System Technology Co Ltd , https://www.pickingbylight.com