Qualcomm, founded by Alvin Mark Jacobs in July 1985 in San Diego, Calif., is transforming into a different company – a company that has been involved in the development of 2G, 3G, and 4G wireless communications standards. To license patented technology to mobile phone manufacturers around the world and sell more than 7.5 billion mobile phone chips, making it one of the world's largest high-tech companies; now, the company has not only extended its reach from smart phones to more connected devices. The field is more focused on the market opportunities brought about by the global digital wave and is involved in the field of server chips.
In the "base camp" wireless communications field, how will Qualcomm lay out 5G? In the era of the Internet of Everything, what are the networking opportunities besides smartphones? In the field of server chips, how will the existing market structure change? What kind of system or mechanism does Qualcomm continue to maintain the spirit of innovation? On October 27, 2016, a reporter interviewed Meng Pu, chairman of Qualcomm China.
5G research and development solves three major problems
Reporter: In the era of 2G, 3G and 4G, Qualcomm is one of the main promoters and leaders in the field of wireless communications. At present, the world is ready to welcome the arrival of 5G. Qualcomm has taken the lead in launching the world's first 5G modem X50, and the number of patent applications filed last year is also the second highest in the world. However, 5G will be a different network than 3G and 4G. It will have functions such as communication, computing and storage. What are the main points of Qualcomm's accumulation and breakthrough in 5G?
Meng Pu: Qualcomm was not established for a long time. It was only 31 years old. When it was founded, the global trend was to develop the Internet. However, the use of the Internet was limited at the time, and mobile phones could only be used to make calls and send. SMS, in the initial even no text messages. Qualcomm's founding team's vision for the industry at that time was that the future development trend of the Internet must be from wired Internet to wireless Internet. At the same time, the wireless communication system's ability to transmit data will be very high. Therefore, Qualcomm's first 20 years of development history is to focus on one thing, moving the Internet into a mobile environment, from 2G to 3G, 4G, and then to 5G.
From the beginning, Qualcomm has established a distinctive development model, which is to predict the development trend of the next decade at an earlier stage, what will happen, what bottlenecks will be encountered, etc. Based on these predictions, Qualcomm will take the lead. Invest and find technical solutions to the problem. Qualcomm's patent applications include not only chips, but also other related technologies for mobile phones, such as communication systems, codecs, antenna systems, etc. We have a lot of results.
Qualcomm's research on 5G actually started in 2006, just ten years ago. Over the years, we have continuously improved the 5G system codec to improve its transmission efficiency. In particular, it has solved a very important problem in wireless transmission, that is, how to transmit more data in limited spectrum resources. However, unlike 3G and 4G, which mainly pursue the improvement of data transmission efficiency, Qualcomm is planning and designing 5G as a common platform. This is not something we have come up with out of thin air. It is based on the development direction of the Internet. Because from the late 1980s to the 1990s, 15 years ago, the world basically used wired Internet to connect less than 1 billion terminals. From the year 2000 to the present, mobile Internet has developed rapidly, and the number of connected terminals has reached 70. In the next 5G era, networked devices will reach the order of 100 billion. All smart devices will be connected to 5G networks through sensors. We need a common platform.
Qualcomm's R&D and breakthrough direction for 5G is concentrated in three aspects: First, the issue of high-speed Internet access, whether it is 3G, 4G, 5G, people's pursuit of Internet speed improvement is endless. Second, the problem of networking of mass terminals, in the next 15 years, hundreds of billions of smart devices connected to the world, how to solve the connection problem as a general 5G platform? This is a 5G platform to consider. Third, the application scenario problem, in the 3G and 4G eras, in order to improve the transmission rate, the application scene often changes, and information transmission may be lost or the transmission may be bad. For example, if the movie is not smooth or the phone is dropped, 5G is used as a universal The platform needs to be characterized by high availability and low latency.
Reporter: Compared with the past, will the positioning of Qualcomm change in the 5G era?
Meng Pu: I don't think it will change. Qualcomm's business model is to develop in advance, make large-scale investments in advance, and make achievements and support partners. Qualcomm's business value chain consists of two parts: one is technology licensing and the other is chip sales. However, Qualcomm's current research and development of chips is not limited to smartphones, but also includes many smart terminals and wearable devices in the Internet of Things.
Reporter: In the 3G era, there are three major wireless communication standards in the world. The 4G era has become two standards, but 90% are convergent. In the 5G era, the world may only produce one standard. Does this change have an impact on Qualcomm?
Meng Pu: As a low-level technology vendor, this trend is a good thing for Qualcomm. Because supporting multiple standards and multiple standards is an additional burden. There are three different CDMA systems in the 3G period, and there are two modes of OFDMA in the 4G period. This has a relatively small impact on Qualcomm, because Qualcomm's R&D and research are very low-level. However, this has a greater impact on some vendors that make specific devices and terminals, because a particular product can only support customers of a particular system.
Qualcomm's integration capabilities are relatively strong, and the chips used in the terminal can integrate different modes to cope with the troubles caused by different standards. However, from the perspective of the entire industry chain, we always hope to see globally unified standards and standards. Therefore, in the 4G era, Qualcomm supports China to promote TD-LTE. Although you mentioned that TDD and FDD have 90% convergence, Qualcomm has proposed 4G solution based on EVDO multi-carrier in the early stage, and some countries have proposed WiMAX solution. However, Qualcomm later responded to the Chinese government's support for LTE, and even gave up its own proposal. It has finally led to the formation of two models of TDD and FDD in the global 4G period, which reflects Qualcomm's contribution and support to the achievement of unified standards.
As always, support China's 5G R&D
Reporter: China's 5G Phase 1 test has been completed not long ago. There are 7 domestic and foreign manufacturers involved, but it does not include Qualcomm. Regarding 5G, what is Qualcomm's strategy in China?
Meng Pu: Qualcomm's strategy and strategy for 5G is no different from when it promotes 3G and 4G. Qualcomm has been fully committed to promoting 5G research and development, whether it is in connection with the global standards organization or the Chinese standards organization, and with the industry chain operators, terminal manufacturers, system vendors, Qualcomm have very close cooperation. Therefore, Qualcomm's promotion of 5G will not weaken, but will support China's 5G research and development.
At the beginning of this year, Qualcomm and Ericsson tested the Gigabit transmission rate with the X16 system at the MWC in Barcelona. Not long ago, Qualcomm announced the first X50 modem X50 in Hong Kong. This modem will support the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. Qualcomm also supports 5G R&D in the US by studying the millimeter band. These two systems are relatively early, driven by operators in the United States and South Korea. Most operators around the world, including China, are pushing the 5G standard of 3GPP, because 3GPP is the operator-led operating standard. 2G, 3G, 4G play a considerable role, we also hope that 3GPP will play the same role in 5G. The 3GPP standard will be later in time than the 5G standard promoted by South Korea and the United States. Prior to this, Qualcomm will support operators in South Korea and the United States to continue to deploy their 5G in the millimeter band, because Qualcomm believes that by supporting their 5G in the millimeter band, it can better promote 3GPP to achieve a global unified 5G standard.
Reporter: Many countries have their own 5G plans. South Korea's plan is in 2018. China's plan is to be in 2020. Can you look forward to the time node for 5G deployment?
Meng Pu: From the perspective of spectrum division, 5G promotion plan, and operator deployment in different countries around the world, I believe that by 2020, commercial 5G systems should be able to be deployed on a global scale. The 5G operators currently seen include Verzion in the US and KT in Korea. I believe that by 2019, some 3GPP 5G standard technology experiment networks will be deployed, and by 2020, 5G will be deployed in many countries and markets around the world.
Hope to break the server chip market
Reporter: Just talked about 5G, this is Qualcomm's "base camp." However, in addition to wireless communications, we also see that Qualcomm is pushing itself to transform from the Internet to the Internet of Things. In addition, Qualcomm is also involved in the server chip field. What is the progress of Qualcomm's server project in Guizhou?
Meng Pu: Qualcomm is doing 5G technology and IoT technology for mobile communications, but from the perspective of IT vendors, they are now focusing on big data opportunities. For Qualcomm, we also see that data centers and server chips are a market opportunity, and it is a very large market.
At present, in the server chip market, 90% of the market share is controlled by one manufacturer, but this 90% market share is unlikely to grow any more. The industry is observing, among the remaining market share, who can bring more competitive products to the industry. This is very important for both technology companies and the Chinese government. In order to provide more solutions in a fast-growing market, Qualcomm and the Guizhou Provincial Government jointly established Guizhou Huaxintong Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd.
Qualcomm's involvement in the field of server chips has several advantages: First, Qualcomm has excellent smartphone chip design capabilities, which has been accumulated since 2G. When processing chips with ARM architecture, many vendors can only do a good job. One aspect, such as lowering costs, is better, but at the expense of performance, Qualcomm is a vendor that can balance performance, power, and cost. In terms of server chips, we believe that chips that balance performance, power consumption, and cost will be valued by the market.
On January 17 this year, we established Huaxintong. In May, we informed the outside world of the progress in the Guiyang number fair. At the meeting, we also promised that we will inform the industry about the latest progress of Huaxintong every six months. Huaxintong is a technology company with high requirements for employees. For this reason, we have launched the recruitment of global management team and R&D team, hoping to attract the best employees to join and seek common cause.
Reporter: Just now, the current server chip market is an X86-led market, but now many vendors including Qualcomm are beginning to try to use ARM architecture to make server chips. How do you think the competitive landscape of this market will evolve in the future? When can we achieve a rebalanced market structure?
Meng Pu: In my opinion, whether it is the global market or the Chinese market, there will be some changes in the second half of 2017. At that time, some cloud computing companies will first select ARM-based server commercial chips. But the rebalancing of the market pattern takes a long time, because it is impossible to regain equilibrium just before it starts. Now 90% of this market is controlled by one manufacturer. After more manufacturers enter this market, as long as one manufacturer starts to achieve success, it is believed that more manufacturers will enter this market. Once a situation in which a manufacturer controls 90% of the market share is broken, more manufacturers in this industry will usher in more new opportunities.
Reporter: Earlier, there was news that Google's data center will use Qualcomm's ARM-based server chips. I wonder how the cooperation between the two sides is progressing.
Meng Pu: We will not comment on cooperation that has not been officially disclosed. However, from an industry perspective, I think the ARM-based server chip will be the first to be adopted by cloud computing companies. Because for many traditional companies, server chips using X86 architecture are bundled with many commercial software, and many commercial software is also written on the X86 architecture. Therefore, even if the ARM-based server chip is commercially available, the migration of industrial software will take time. But Internet companies are different. They are basically all based on different versions of Linux. They are written by Internet companies or cloud computing companies, not commercial ones. Therefore, ARM-based server chips are most likely to be Cloud computing companies and Internet companies are the first to use them.
Focus on the layout of three types of networked equipment market
Reporter: 5G will open an era of intelligent interconnection of all things. We have seen that Qualcomm has made a lot of attempts and layouts outside of smart phones. Can you tell us about the market opportunities for Qualcomm to focus on which devices are connected?
Meng Pu: From the perspective of the chip support industry, in the future, Qualcomm's main battlefield is still in the field of smart phones. Because the smartphone industry is very large, although the growth rate is slowing down, the market for replacement is still very large. So I think Qualcomm will continue to support the smartphone industry chain, which is very important.
From the perspective of the Internet of Things, Qualcomm divides the smart hardware of non-smart phones into several categories: one is wearable devices, the other is a device with a large civilian application scenario, and the other is a device that is a dedicated application scenario. .
In the past few years, Qualcomm's wearable business has developed very well. The smart watches, wristbands and other wearable smart hardware on the market have adopted Qualcomm's chips very much, and this amount will grow steadily.
IoT products for civil applications are also our focus. For example, drones, we have developed a special drone platform. Why does Qualcomm enter the drone market? It is because we have unpacked the best-selling drones on the market and found that there are 7 different PCB boards. In the past, there was a need for separate semiconductors for camera, camera, and flight control. Now these are in Qualcomm. The chips have been integrated into the chip. Therefore, whether it is a drone or VR, Qualcomm will cooperate with more manufacturers to promote industrial development.
There are also dedicated applications in the vertical market, which is in line with China's “Internet Plus†strategy. Many applications in the vertical market can be integrated into the Internet, such as smart cities. How to cooperate with more professional companies in the vertical market industry chain to promote special applications. Integrating into the Internet is what we need to do.
Deep innovation is the cultural gene of Qualcomm
The reason why Qualcomm is famous in the world, the most talked about is the unique patent licensing business model. However, during the interview, the reporter deeply felt that more important than the patent authorization is Qualcomm's ability to predict the future development trend of the world. For example, when everyone talked about the Internet in the mid-1980s, the future direction of the Internet was predicted from wired to wireless, and then 2G was predicted in the analog era. 3G and 4G were predicted in the 2G era. 4G, 5G, 4G pre-judgment in the 4G era, this business model that is heavily invested in advance and then patented, need to improve the accuracy of the prediction, and this precision needs continuous innovation as a support.
During the interview, Meng Pu mentioned that in the past 20 or 20 years, many partners and media in the industry chain have visited Qualcomm's US headquarters. After coming back, they will mention the patent wall of Qualcomm's US headquarters and Qualcomm's patents. Success because they think this is the hallmark of Qualcomm. However, Meng Pu explained that the original intention of setting up a patent wall at Qualcomm's US headquarters is not for the outsiders, but for the employees and their families. They can see that their achievements are hanging there. This is A respect. In fact, when Qualcomm was a small company in the early years, the patent wall already existed, but it was rarely mentioned. Later, Qualcomm became famous, the patents were more, and there were more people going, so it was mentioned more.
Meng Pu believes that many Chinese companies have come back to Qualcomm's US headquarters to come back and work on their own company's patent wall. Many of them actually only learned the "shape" and did not learn "God" because some domestic companies hang patents on the wall. On, it is for the leaders to see, it is for outsiders to see.
The core of Qualcomm's ability to continue to innovate for more than 30 years is based on a unique view of talent – ​​focusing on talent, respecting talent and allowing them to keep trying to make mistakes. Qualcomm has an Open-door system many years ago. Any employee who has any ideas or opinions can go to the company's chairman and CEO at any time. The door to their office is always open. This is in many companies. I am afraid I can't really do it.
In addition, there are risks in innovation and may fail. The outside world only saw the successful case of Qualcomm. In fact, Qualcomm also had many unsuccessful cases, but the outside world did not know much. Therefore, in the corporate culture, it is very important to have genes that allow failure. Many Chinese companies encourage innovation, but they only want to win and not lose. This is not really making innovation. In the culture of innovation, there must be a fault-tolerant mechanism. It is also very important to fail after everyone learns from experience.
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