物聯網對通訊晶片公司之影響：以樂鑫信息科技為例

Abstract

本論文介紹與分析在物聯網時代到來的同時，對於通訊晶片設計廠商的衝擊與影響為何，以及如何應變的策略。「物聯網」是近幾年很紅的名詞，其基本概念是將所有物品串聯接收與傳遞訊息並改變這世界人與物品的互動關係，若所有的物品都須連上網，在佈建這網絡的過程中勢必會產生很大的商機。依據Gartner的報告指出，預計在2020年會有200億個物品會連上網，晶片設計公司絕對是在物聯網發展中受惠良多的產業之一，因為所有需要上網的物品，基本條件就是都需要內建晶片才能連網。物聯網的晶片特性：量大、便宜、且生命週期長，晶片公司面臨的挑戰則是毛利低且無法同時滿足所有的規格的情況下，又因為物品大小和周遭環境等種種因素，導致晶片規格多元且碎片化，讓晶片設計公司不管在成本上或商業模式上都面臨前所未有的挑戰，故需要高整合度的晶片才能滿足碎片化的物聯網的產業。 當WiFi晶片主要的大公司都在佈局路由器等利潤高的高端產品時，樂鑫信息科技反其道而行，專注在低毛率且尚未蓬勃發展的物聯網通訊晶片的研發上，抓住產業的另一端，成功的站上物聯網晶片供應商的第一名。本論文分析樂鑫科技的產品優勢，外在和內在的環境影響與其成功的關鍵因素。物聯網的通訊晶片規格第一步從樂鑫科技看見曙光，爾後還需要搭配人工智慧（AI，Artificial Intelligence）的加入，才能真的將資料活化，各家廠商正積極投入研發當中，但因AI是沒有規範所以如何的制定規格又是下個難題，還需要更多且多元的廠商合作加入才能讓這產業更成熟達到真正的物聯網時代。

This thesis describes and analyzes the impact on communication IC (integrated Circuit) design house during the coming of IoT (Internet of Things) waves and what the strategies of overcoming those obstacles are. IoT is a very popular term in recent years. It’s basic idea is to connect all the things together and to exchange messages between them. Thus, this will revolutionize the relationship and behaviors between human and objects. If everything needs to be on the internet, the construction of this networks infrastructure will definitely bring enormous business opportunity. According to the Garner’s research, there will be 20 billion things on the internet in 2020. Due to the fact that everything will connect to the internet, IC design house will be one of the business that benefits from this opportunity, since the basic element for things to connect to the internet is with a communication chip. The 3 main characteristics for IoT IC are large volume, cheap price, and long life cycle. Also, due to different scenarios of usage in IoT market, such as temperature, power source, and etc.., IC design house faces the two main challenges are low profit margin and difficult to fulfill all the requirements. As a result, the market of IoT for IC design house becomes fragmented. Espressif which is a IoT market leader in communication IC, focuses on IoT market and finds a way to fulfill all those challenges. While all those giant IC design houses, which produce WiFi ICs, target high profit markets such as router and server market, Espressif takes on the other side of the market which is low in profit, high in volume, and un-harvested IoT market. In conclusion, Espressif is the market leader in IoT communication IC since 2017. This thesis analyzes the reasons of the success factors of Espressif products, and the external and internal aspects for Espressif’s success. Even though the dawn for IoT communication IC specification is interpreted by Espressif, this market still requires more functions integrated together such as AI (Artificial Intelligence) to extract more useful information for message exchanging process. Since IoT market involves many functions to collaborate with each other, more companies should work together for the maturity of the IoT market.