[Depth] The smart cockpit SoC chip market has become a new blue ocean local manufacturer and entered the technology explosion period

The smart cabin needs chips to realize. SoC chips with higher computing power, more security and reliability become the core products urgently needed in the smart cabin market. This field is becoming a vast blue ocean.
The intelligent cockpit is an important part of intelligent driving. It is composed of central control panel, seat, LCD instrument, air conditioner and other components. It provides control functions through the chip to provide computing power output and voice and gesture operation to realize the intelligent interactive experience between people and the cockpit. The chip applied in the intelligent cabin is called the intelligent cabin SoC chip, which has high performance computing ability, and can organically combine the functions of the car entertainment system, head-up display, LCD instrument, etc., to realize the intellectualization of the car cabin.
The intelligent cockpit SoC chip is the key source of computing power in the automobile cockpit. At present, in the context of the rising trend of the “new four modernizations” (electrification, networking, intelligence and sharing) in the automobile industry, the automobile is accelerating into the era of intelligence. As the key to enabling consumers to gain digital and intelligent experience, the intelligent cockpit has rapidly penetrated into the automobile market and become a new demand for high-end vehicles. The smart cabin needs chips to realize. SoC chips with higher computing power, more security and reliability become the core products urgently needed in the smart cabin market. This field is becoming a vast blue ocean.
According to the data of the China Automobile Association, from January to October 2022, China’s automobile production and sales were 22.242 million and 21.975 million, up 7.9% and 4.6% respectively year on year. Among them, from January to October 2022, China’s market (excluding import and export) passenger cars were delivered with more than 7.1 million intelligent cabins in front of the standard, with a carrying rate of more than 44.0%.
According to the “2023-2028 Intelligent Cabin SoC Chip Industry Market Deep Research and Investment Prospect Forecast and Analysis Report” released by the Industrial Research Center of New ThinkWorld, under the background of the continuous expansion of domestic automobile production and marketing scale, the market penetration of the intelligent cabin is gradually increasing, which drives the market demand of the intelligent cabin SoC chip to increase. In 2021, China’s smart cockpit SoC chip market has reached 8.31 billion yuan; In the future, as the market penetration of the smart cabin continues to rise, it is expected that its market size will reach 22.57 billion yuan by 2025.
At present, the participating manufacturers in the global smart cockpit SoC chip market mainly include Qualcomm, NVIDIA, Intel, Telecommunications, AMD, Reisa, NXP, Texas Instruments, Samsung, etc. Among them, Qualcomm is currently the leading manufacturer in the global smart cockpit SoC chip market, and its mainstream product Snapdragon SA8155P (7nm process) has occupied nearly 90% of the global market share in the high-end smart cockpit SoC chip market. At present, the high-end market of smart cockpit SoC chips in the world is dominated by Qualcomm, Samsung and other leading foreign manufacturers, with high industry concentration.
According to industry analysts from New ThinkWorld, at present, the smart cockpit SoC chips of local manufacturers are mainly concentrated in the mid-end and low-end markets. The main enterprises include MediaTek, Huawei, Centric Technologies, Horizon, Jiefa Technologies, Centric Technologies, and Ruixin Micro. However, in recent years, driven by the growth of market demand, China’s smart cockpit SoC chip manufacturers have also entered the technology explosion period, and have successively launched a number of mid-to-high-end smart cockpit SoC chip products, such as the RK3588M of Raytheon Micro and the SE1000 (7nm process) of Simeon Technology. In the future, under the background of the continuous upgrading of domestic smart cockpit SoC chip technology and the continuous acceleration of research and development process, local manufacturers are expected to occupy more shares in the global market, and the industry has great potential for development.