Recently, the ultrasonic chip company Youhang Technology successfully completed tens of millions of yuan of Pre-A+ round of strategic financing, this round of financing by the listed company Siripu Microelectronics under the core Yang Fund for strategic investment.
It is revealed that this round of financing will be mainly used for vehicle regulation verification testing and mass production of vehicle ultrasonic Ak1, AK2 sensor chips and vehicle optical rainfall sensor chips.
Founded in 2021, Youhang Technology, as a second-level supplier of intelligent vehicle sensor chips and components, focuses on providing Tier1 suppliers with products including vehicle ultrasonic core probe, vehicle ultrasonic radar chip, optical rainfall sensor chip, microcollision sensor chip and so on. At present, the company has nearly 100 team members.
With the rapid development of intelligent driving, ultrasonic radar has become an indispensable part of intelligent hardware in automobile enterprises. Intelligent parking, valet parking, lateral assistance detection of vehicles and other functions need the support of high-performance ultrasonic radar. At present, the industry's leading players are basically promoting the research and development of a new generation of AK2 encoded ultrasonic radar, and the suppliers are mainly foreign enterprises. Youhang Technology is one of the few Tier2 players in China, mainly providing the core and chip part of ultrasonic radar, accounting for more than 65% of the ultrasonic BOM cost.
According to core sensing, at present, the localization ratio of AK1 ultrasonic radar sensors is about 60%, and the localization ratio of AK2 is about 45%. Thanks to the increase in sales of independent brands, the proportion of localization of ultrasonic radar continues to rise. Youhang Technology's ultrasonic radar core detection products have been carried on dozens of models of the head car companies through domestic cooperation Tier1. At the same time, the Ak2 chip has also passed the test of existing customers and is expected to achieve small batch production in the first quarter of 2025. In addition, its synchronous research and development of vehicle optical rain sensors and other chips are also planned to be delivered in the first quarter of next year.
What chips does a smart car need?
It can be said that the intelligence of the car is the intelligence of the chip. If the mobile phone chip is the "brain" of the mobile phone, then the car chip is the brain of the car. Among them, automotive chips can be divided into three categories: "functional chips", "power semiconductors" and "sensors".
A smart car needs multiple chips to support its complex functions and systems.
Subdivision, mainly includes the following categories: control chip (MCU), responsible for computing and processing, widely used in engine, chassis, body control and other systems, is the core of automotive electronic control system; Computing chips, such as CPU, GPU, FPGA, ASIC, etc., play an important role in autonomous driving AI calculation, wherein CPU is mainly used in infotainment system, GPU is mainly used in advanced assisted driving system (ADAS) and autonomous driving system. Sensor chips, including CMOS image sensors, radar sensors, etc., are used for cameras and various environmental sensing sensors to collect data around the vehicle; Communication chip, supporting wireless communication between the car and the outside world, to achieve data transmission and remote control functions; The memory chip provides a large amount of storage space for storing data generated by the on-board system; Security chip to protect the car's data security and driving safety; Power chip, indispensable in engine, drive system and steering control, for electrical energy conversion and circuit control; And the drive chip, control the motor speed and steering, ensure the stable driving of the car, while managing the battery power.
Traditionally, about 500-600 chips were needed to make a conventional car. However, with the continuous progress of the automotive industry, cars are gradually developing from mechanical to electronic, and the degree of intelligence is increasing, so the number of chips required naturally increases. It is understood that the number of chips required for an average car in 2021 has exceeded 1,000.
It is worth noting that the demand for chips in new energy vehicles is more robust. Such vehicles require a large number of DC-AC inverters, transformers, converters and other components, and the demand for these components for semiconductor devices such as IGBTs, MOSFETs, and diodes has also increased significantly. The number of chips required for a high-end new energy vehicle may reach about 2,000, and the demand is amazing.
In short, with the continuous development of the automotive industry, the demand and types of chips are also increasing, and the number of chips in a smart car may reach thousands or even more, and these chips play an irreplaceable role in their respective fields.
This paper is from Ulink Media, Shenzhen, China, the organizer of IOTE EXPO (IoT Expo in China)
