MCU (Microcontroller) is a chip-level computer that integrates the simplified CPU through integrated storage, counters, interfaces, etc., to perform control functions
According to different application fields, MCU can be divided into two categories: special-purpose and general-purpose.
The hardware and instructions of a dedicated MCU are designed for a specific purpose
General-purpose MCU provides all the resources that can be developed (such as ROM, RAM, I/O, etc.) to customers, and its performance is relatively comprehensive, accounting for 73% of the global market.
According to the number of bus bits, MCU can be divided into 4 bits, 8 bits, 16 bits, 32 bits, and 64 bits. The higher the number of bits, the stronger the computing power and the more advanced functions provided.
According to statistics from IC Insights, 32-bit and 8-bit MCUs are currently the main choices in the market, of which 32-bit has a 44% market share, 8-bit has a market share of 38%, and 4-bit has a share of less than 1%.
In terms of market size, with the continuous development of social digitization and intelligence in recent years, MCU has become the main control chip commonly used in many electronic devices, driving the rapid development of the industry. According to data, the global MCU market size will be approximately US$19.6 billion in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 23.4%. It is expected to maintain a compound growth rate of 6.7% in the next five years and reach US$27.2 billion by 2026.
In the MCU market, after years of development and integration of mergers and acquisitions, Infineon, Renesas and NXP are tied for the top three with a share of 18%, while STMicroelectronics ranks fourth with a share of 15.5%, and Microchip ranks fourth. Ranked fifth with a share of 12%, it is worth mentioning that the combined proportion of these five companies accounted for 81.5% of the overall MCU market share
As a typical digital chip, the overall cycle fluctuation of the MCU is highly positively correlated with the entire semiconductor industry
From the perspective of recent years, the global new crown epidemic broke out from 2019 to 2020, and the market demand for MCU products has declined, and global sales will drop by about 13% in 2019; in 2021, MCU will be used in downstream home appliances, automotive electronics, industrial control, and energy management. Driven by the tight supply and demand, the market rebounded sharply by 23%, and shipments increased by 13% to 31.2 billion units, achieving the highest growth rate in history
In 2022, although the revenue of the MCU industry has declined due to the impact of weak demand for consumer electronics, it will still maintain a low-single-digit positive growth overall. Among them, the top five MCU manufacturers, Infineon, Renesas, NXP, STMicroelectronics, and Microchip, will hit a record high in terms of revenue and net profit in 2022
The time has come to the middle of 2023. At this time, the mid-year performance of most manufacturers in the MCU industry has been disclosed. After more than a year of destocking and adjustment, what is the current performance of major MCU manufacturers?
Infineon
Infineon's MCU products mainly include TriCore AURIX, MOTIX, PSOC, Traveo, XMC, etc. TriCore AURIX is processed by the self-developed Tricore core, and the rest of the products are developed based on the ARM architecture.
Infineon's MCU products are mostly high-end 32-bit MCUs, and are mainly used in the field of automotive electronics. The acquisition of Cypress has helped Infineon improve its competitiveness in the automotive and industrial control fields. Infineon's operating income in fiscal year 2022 It was 13.997 billion U.S. dollars, and the net profit was 2.145 billion U.S. dollars
Judging from the latest performance, Infineon's revenue in the third quarter of fiscal year 2023 reached 4.089 billion euros, with a profit of 1.067 billion euros and a profit margin of 26.1%; the first three quarters achieved revenue of 12.16 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 2.069 billion. %. Net profit was 2.384 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 65.10%; overall, Infineon’s performance will maintain a good growth trend in 2023
The supply of Infineon's MCU and Gao Semiconductor's several product categories is still quite tight, especially MCU, and the company expects the tightness to continue throughout the year
Renesas Electronics
Among the MCU products of Renesas Electronics, the RX, RL78, and RH850 families mainly adopt the Renesas core. Subsequent product series, such as RZ, Renesas SynergyTM platform, and RA, adopt the Arm architecture to better meet the needs of major manufacturers in the industry and the Internet of Things
Renesas' operating income in fiscal year 2022 is US$11.283 billion and net profit is US$1.929 billion
Judging from the latest performance, Renesas Electronics' Q2 revenue in 2023 will be 368.7 billion yen, a month-on-month increase of 2.5% and a year-on-year decrease of 2.2%. Operating profit was 129.1 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 0.72%. Net profit was 198.505 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 77.30%
NXP
Before 2015, NXP's share in the global MCU market was only one-fifth of Freescale's. After NXP completed the acquisition of Freescale in 2015, it became one of the world's largest MCU manufacturers with a 17% market share.
In 2022, NXP's operating income will be US$13.205 billion and net profit will be US$2.787 billion
In Q2 of 2023, NXP’s revenue will be US$3.3 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 0.4%, and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 5.7%, reaching the upper limit of the previous guidance (US$3.2±100 million). The reason is that the performance of all end markets is higher than expected.
In the first half of 2023, NXP’s revenue was US$6.42 billion, down 0.43% year-on-year, and its net profit was US$1.313 billion, down 1.06% year-on-year, mainly due to the decline in demand for the Internet of Things and mobile terminals
STMicroelectronics
In the MCU field, STMicroelectronics has a rich product line, and the general-purpose MCU products mainly include 8-bit STM8 and 32-bit STM32 series.
STM8 has 138 product models, mainly divided into four series: STM8S, STM8L, STM8AF and STM8AL
In 2007, STMicroelectronics took the lead in using the ARM Cortex-M architecture to develop the STM32 product series of 32-bit MCUs, leading the 32-bit MCU market trend
After more than ten years of development, the STM32 series products have been iterated and enriched. So far, there are 18 product lines, and the product models have reached 1201 types. Monitoring and other application fields
From the perspective of Q2 performance in 2023, STMicroelectronics’ net income in the second quarter was US$4.33 billion, a year-on-year increase of 12.7%, gross profit margin was 49%, and net profit was US$1 billion.
In the first half of 2023, the net income will be US$8.573 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16.12%, and the net profit will be US$2.045 billion, a year-on-year increase of 26.7%
Microchip
Microchip adopted the leading architecture PIC and AVR representing 8-bit MCU in 1985 and 1992, and accumulated a large number of loyal customers in the field of 8-bit MCU, with strong competitiveness
After Microchp acquired Atmel in 2016, it expanded its 32-bit MCU product line and quickly climbed to the forefront of shipments in the global MCU market
At present, Microchip has more than 1,000 product models, and its 32-bit MCU adopts ARM Crotex-MO+/M4/M4F/M23/M7 and MIPS cores, covering downstream fields such as industry, consumption and automobiles
Fiscal 2022 operating income of $8.439 billion and net profit of $2.238 billion
Judging from its latest performance, net sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 reached a record US$2.289 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16.55%, and net profit was US$667 million, a year-on-year increase of 31.39%
The consumer MCU field has bottomed out, but automotive MCUs are still popular
As the main control chip commonly used in intelligent products, MCU advertising is used in automobiles (accounting for 35%), industry (accounting for 24%), consumer electronics (18%) and other fields
Automotive electronics require MCU to develop in the direction of higher reliability, stronger processing power, higher performance and larger storage space
Consumer electronics such as smart wear have promoted the improvement of MCU integration, which is conducive to the development of lightweight and miniaturized terminal products.
The development of the Internet of Things has promoted the low-power design of MCU and the development of wireless technology
From a technical point of view, high performance, low power consumption, high stability, and high integration have become the future development direction of MCU products
In response to the development trend of MCU technology and combined with their own areas of expertise, the five major manufacturers have launched thousands of MCU models in the fields of automobiles, industry, and consumption, and have provided hardware and software products for tens of thousands of customers. and production support services
