MCU，即微控制器，也稱為微控制單元或微控制器。從實作方式來看，MCU 是一種在適當降低 CPU 頻率和規格的同時，將記憶體、USB、PLC、DMA 和其他介面整合到單一晶片上的產品。

According to the number of bits, MCU can be divided into 4-bit, 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit and 64-bit. The main application directions are:

Cartography | Yifei.com (the same below)

（由於平台壓縮等問題，如需查看更清晰的圖片，請發送訊息「local MCU」獲取）

百度百科上的一些應用介紹比較陳舊。從廠商的宣傳訊息來看，64位元MCU將應用於高解析度人機介面、嵌入式視覺、嵌入式人工智慧和即時控制等領域。

Due to product updates and demand changes, 4-bit MCUs have gradually withdrawn from the stage of history. Although some manufacturers still use them with the belief that "cheapness is the biggest advantage", they already account for a small proportion. Since 16-bit MCUs live in the gap between 8-bit and 32-bit, their living space is getting smaller and smaller.

Following last week’s MCU price increase themed article (MCU shortage seems to be unsolvable, 40 local manufacturers are already in place）

Afterwards, I received some comments, and when we talk about the replacement of domestic MCUs, we are actually talking more about the enduring 8-bit, the popular 32-bit, and the future star 64-bit.

They are both 32-bit, what’s the difference?

來源 | 網路

According to the data of comprehensive market analysis institutions, since 2010, the market share of 32-bit MCUs has begun to occupy the first place, and in 2015 it reached the combined market share of 4 + 8 + 16 bits. With the improvement of performance and reduction of power consumption, the leading position of 32-bit MCU market has become increasingly obvious, and it is also an area of ​​focus for domestic MCU manufacturers.

In recent years, domestic MCUs have made significant progress, and even 32-bit products have been launched in the automotive pre-installation market, which has high thresholds, long cycles, and strong safety.

2018年底，捷發科技推出AC781X，這是國內首款自主研發並實現量產的車規級32位元MCU晶片。 2020年上半年，捷發科技再次推出AC7801X系列車規級MCU，該系列晶片功能更加細分，產品功能和成本控制也得到了優化。目前，捷發科技的車規級MCU晶片已被眾多汽車電子零件廠商納入其供應鏈體系。

Also making breakthroughs in automotive-grade MCUs is Xinwang Micro. On November 26, 2020, Xinwang's micro-car grade 32-bit MCU KF32A15X won the "5th Lingxuan Award Forward-looking Integrated Circuit Excellence Award". The jury was composed of 22 purchasing leaders from mainstream Chinese automobile companies, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, General Motors, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, FAW, SAIC, Changan, Geely, Great Wall, and Chery. At present, the KF32A15X series MCU has been initially introduced to domestic automobile manufacturers.

那麼，剛起步的國產車規級MCU與國際廠商的產品之間是否有顯著差距？讓我們來看圖並討論一下：

可以看出，國內廠商在使用Arm Cortex-M0+方面表現尚可，主頻和Flash配置也足夠。例如，新旺微單自研的KF32核心效能也不錯，擁有豐富的I/O和周邊介面資源。那麼，國內廠商在這方面的差距究竟在哪裡呢？從恩智浦（NXP）的官網來看，最大的差距在於信任，也就是對產品長期穩定性和可靠性的信任。恩智浦聲稱其長期供貨至少可達15年，而大多數國內MCU廠商的成立時間都未達15年。新旺微單成立於2012年，捷發科技成立於2013年。

At the same time, we have actually noticed that domestic manufacturers are indeed still in their infancy in terms of automotive-grade MCUs. The use of Arm Cortex?-M4 cores is still in the research and development stage, and there is no product supply available from the official websites of each company.

Under the current international situation, automotive grade MCU is a difficult problem that we must overcome. Of course, there are also good opportunities. According to data from statistical agencies, automotive electronics accounted for 33% of global MCU downstream applications (calculated in terms of sales) in 2019. MCUs also account for about 30% of all semiconductor devices equipped in a car. On average, more than 70 MCU chips are used in each vehicle. In the future, with the upgrade of intelligence and networking, this number will be even more. Today, as domestic automobiles are gradually improving, domestic MCU manufacturers have a window period to take advantage of the momentum and take off.

According to the purpose of MCU, it can generally be divided into commercial grade, industrial grade, automotive grade and military grade. In addition to playing an important role in the automotive field, 32-bit MCUs are also indispensable in the other three fields. According to data from IC Insights, global MCU product shipments reached 36.065 billion units in 2020, and the unit price of MCUs also increased from US$0.72 in 2015 to US$0.78 in 2020. Among them, the automation control required by Industry 4.0 has played a big driving role. Industrial control/medical accounted for 25% of the MCU market in 2019 based on sales statistics.

我們也選取了幾款國產MCU以及國際廠商的產品進行比較。這次，讓我們先來看看廠商本身的介紹：

GigaDevice Innovations 32-bit general-purpose MCU based on Arm? Cortex?-M4 core

新王微工業級通用功夫核心32位MCU

智慧型微型元件是一款基於 Arm® Cortex®-M3 核心的 32 位元通用 MCU。

Microchip Universal 32-bit MCU

部分產品的推出已經解釋了這個問題。國內MCU廠商仍處於跟隨狀態。目前基於Arm Cortex核心的產品選擇已經非常豐富，而關於Arm Cortex-M23或Arm Cortex-M33的報導卻只出現在技嘉科技和新頓科技的新聞中。

讓我們全面比較一下幾款基於 Arm Cortex-M3 核心的微控制器：

恩智浦半導體（NXP）官網顯示，LPC1812JBD144 是基於 Arm® Cortex®-M3 核心的性能最高的微控制器之一。由此可見，雖然國產微控制器在最高頻率方面存在差距，但凌動微電子的產品與之非常接近。

Today, with the rapid development of the Internet of Things, power consumption and chip size are also important criteria for selecting MCUs, which are closely related to the process. Let’s talk about power consumption first. For different applications, the working conditions of MCUs vary greatly. Current consumption, state retention, wake-up time and wake-up source are all factors that affect power consumption. The availability of peripheral devices also affects power consumption. Therefore, in this regard, benevolent people have different opinions. But there is one thing we must face the gap. In the ultra-low-power MCU product camp provided by ST, there are many cores used. Arm? Cortex?-M0, Arm? Cortex?-M0+, Arm? Cortex?-M3, Arm? Cortex?-M0 and Arm? Cortex?-M0+, this is undoubtedly a gap.

我們來看看晶片尺寸。這其實與國產MCU的起步階段有關。我們會發現，國產MCU的晶片尺寸已經非常接近國際廠商的產品了。當然，這是一種發展策略。

Let’s look at a few more based on Arm? Cortex?-M4 core:

單就主頻而言，華大半導體的產品確實在國內MCU市場具有競爭力。

在非汽車領域，電腦領域佔行銷收入的23%（2019年），消費性電子領域佔11%（2019年），這與工業控制/醫療領域的情況類似。在通用MCU領域，總是會有一些國產MCU能夠與國際廠商的MCU在Arm® Cortex®-M0/M0/M3/M4/M23/M33等核心上競爭，並在某些領域取得了一定的成績。

目標。

Currently, there are dozens of MCU manufacturers in China, and their products are highly homogeneous at the core. Although each company focuses on different technology development directions, subtle differences are easily overlooked when purchasing and selecting material numbers. On the other hand, when looking at the products of international manufacturers, comprehensiveness is essential, including core, products and fields. For example, they are all products based on the Arm® Cortex®-M4 core, but the NXP LPC54000 series comes with an optional Cortex®-M0+ coprocessor, which undoubtedly enriches the product's application scenarios.

如上文一再提及，就高性能MCU的佈局而言，國內MCU尚未起步，市場完全掌握在國際廠商手中。

在考察完產品之後，下一步就是軟體和生態系統了。

在軟體層面，簡單瀏覽華大半導體和恩智浦的網站後，你會發現，在開發工具方面，恩智浦提到的相應工具在華大半導體網站上也能找到。如果要說有什麼不足之處，那可能是因為華大半導體網站上對開發板的介紹不夠清晰，而且開發板的種類也不如恩智浦豐富。

The ecology is divided into two levels. One is whether the link from design to production testing is complete. Although the manufacturing process may lag behind, domestic MCUs are connected on this link. The other kind of ecology is external. The number of partners, the richness of network resources, industry reputation and traffic support are obviously the shortcomings of domestic MCUs.

綜上所述，國產MCU目前需要累積和改進的面向主要包括以下幾個面向：一是產品穩定性方面的長期聲譽累積；二是高性能產品的持續研發；三是生態建設的持續完善。結合半導體發展規律，國產MCU還有第四個最佳化點，即整合資源、整合資源、彌補不足，並將有限的資源用在更需要的地方。

8-bit is a good business opportunity, RISC-V is a breakthrough point

The continued development of the Internet of Things has enriched the application scenarios of MCUs, not only for the current mainstream 32-bit MCUs, but also for 8-bit MCUs. Especially in the field of consumer electronics, 8-bit MCUs still control their own territory.

根據中國資訊系統安全局（CISA）發布的消息，2019年8位元MCU和32位元MCU晶片分別佔中國市場的40%和45%。或許Microchip的理念能夠為大家指引8位MCU創新的方向。他們認為8位MCU的創新空間非常巨大。新一代8位MCU正朝著智慧模擬與創新週邊的方向發展。另一個值得關注的市場是照明領域。

With the development of science and technology and the advancement of production technology, it is foreseeable that the market share of 32-bit MCUs will expand and squeeze the market share of other MCU products. However, with the advantages of low cost and low power consumption, 8-bit MCUs will be a stable cash cow for a long time.

在國產8位MCU領域，中微半導體已經持續了十多年。如下圖所示，中微半導體目前擁有豐富的8位元MCU產品線。

新通科技多年來一直深耕8051單晶片領域，其產品可應用於各種工業和消費性產品。此外，還有許多廠商，例如晶海科技、盛思微電子、新旺微電子和東軟開利微電子等，都提供8位MCU產品，為國內替代產品提供了豐富的選擇。

目標。

國內8位MCU及32位MCU因同質化嚴重而備受詬病。在當今日益豐富的終端市場中，差異化競爭或「五指通吃」更有利於整個產業的發展，也能更好地發揮這一穩定市場的價值。

In summary, in the traditional MCU field, domestic MCUs have achieved certain results and can achieve product substitution in some fields, but the gap still exists, and they will still play a follower role in this aspect for a long time to come. But when it comes to building MCUs based on RISC-V cores, domestic manufacturers have a greater say.

儘管RISC-V指令集並非首個開源指令集，但它適用於現代運算設備，因此意義重大。中國工程院院士倪光南曾評價RISC-V：“RISC-V基於寬鬆的BSD標準許可。它可以自由用於設計CPU，開發和添加自己的擴展指令集，並且可以選擇公開發布、商業銷售或替代其他許可協議，或者完全閉源使用。”

Currently, domestic manufacturers are leading the way in building MCUs based on RISC-V cores. On August 22, 2019, GigaDevice officially launched the world's first GD32V series 32-bit general-purpose MCU products based on the RISC-V core, and provided complete tool chain support from chips to program code libraries, development kits, and design solutions, and continued to build a RISC-V development ecosystem.

Recently, Hangshun also announced that it will soon mass-produce China's first ARM+RISC-V multi-core heterogeneous AIoT MCU, in which the Arm Cortex-M3 large core is responsible for main computing; the Xinlai N203 RISC-V small core is responsible for simple communication and control. This is also an innovation in product form.

中國擁有更活躍、更廣泛的 RISC-V 開發者生態系統，可以幫助解決國產 MCU 和其他國產晶片在核心 IP 和指令集架構方面的弱點，從而在這個新領域超越中國。

寫在最後

Set up a good stage and sing a good show

According to IHS statistics, the average annual compound growth rate (CAGR) of China's MCU market in the past five years has been 7.2%, which is four times the growth rate of the global MCU market during the same period. In the context of the epidemic and the Sino-US trade dispute, domestic substitution is no longer a slogan, it is a fact that happens all the time. For users, MCUs can be selected on demand, and there are opportunities if the performance is suitable.

毋庸置疑，國產MCU擁有良好的發展土壤，但在這個窗口期，國產MCU的發展需要思路清晰、著眼長遠。特殊時期，人人都能快速獲利，但當如此絕佳的窗口期過去後，國產MCU不可能像以往那樣分散到世界各地。內部摩擦和內捲並非良好的產業形態。

A good play requires a good stage, and even more so, people who can sing the play well.

- 結尾 -

免責聲明：本文轉載自「eefocus」。本文僅代表作者個人觀點，不代表Sacco Micro及業界立場。僅供轉載分享，支持智慧財產權保護。轉載請註明原出處及作者。如有侵權，請聯絡我們刪除。