It is for this reason that it is generally believed in the industry that digital RMB will adopt domestic standard system as far as possible in top-level design, standard formulation, function research and development, such as state secret algorithm, state-owned enterprise participation and so on. As we all know, the hardware wallet of digital RMB involves the problem of "chip". Whether it is smart card or mobile phone, the localization of its security chip will be very important.
The domestic core of financial ic card is self-sufficient
In any industry, enterprises with core technologies can take the initiative in cooperation. In the smart card industry, the core component is undoubtedly the chip. Regardless of chip performance, smart cards in some fields are not suitable for using imported chips, such as ID cards, social security cards and various financial cards. Of course, including the future digital RMB smart card.
At the end of May this year, the data in the Report on the Development of Bank Card Industry in China in 2020 released by UnionPay showed that the number of financial IC cards ordered in 20 19 was 104 billion, accounting for 96.5% of the number of UnionPay logo cards ordered. There are 870 million IC cards for pure financial applications, accounting for 83.9% of the total number of financial IC cards ordered. The order volume of domestic chips is 490 million, accounting for 47. 1% of the order volume of financial ic cards.
It can be seen from the statistical data that domestic chips have become a major trend of financial ic cards in recent years, accounting for nearly 50%. Before 20 16, NXP chips maintained an absolute market leading position in the field of pure financial IC cards.
In recent years, all parties in the industry have fully cooperated with the application of domestic passwords in the financial field. By the end of 20 19, the cumulative number of domestic cryptographic financial ic cards issued in the financial field exceeded 870 million, which was 453 million in 20 18, up 92 1% year-on-year.
The large-scale application of state secret algorithm has also promoted the development of financial security equipment and chips in China. According to the data of financial IC card chip migration industry promotion alliance, by the end of 20 19, the cumulative shipment of pure financial domestic chips was about16.8 million, compared with11260,000 in 20 18, a year-on-year increase of 49. It can be seen that the production capacity of domestic chips has been continuously improved to meet the supply demand of "core replacement project".
It can be said that in today's financial IC card field, many enterprises, including Datang Microelectronics, Tongxin Microelectronics and Huada Electronics, have the ability to independently develop and produce financial IC card chips, and domestic chips have also made great progress.
However, unlike the case of financial IC cards, there are many kinds of chips in smart phones and the industrial chain is lengthy. In addition, without the support of national policies, except for chip design, product manufacturing and packaging technology, the application of domestic chips in smart phones and other devices is still not as good as the mainstream market.
The road to self-reliance of domestic mobile phone core
In 2020, the United States increased the pressure on China's technology enterprises, including chip bans and supply cuts. This influence has directly affected the product lines of enterprises including Huawei and ZTE, and the market has also stimulated the upsurge of "domestic core self-reliance". A large number of chip companies seek to go public, and system companies without chips have set up chip departments. The stock price soared, and the market enthusiasm was high.
But behind the capital boom, the truth we need to see is that there is still a big gap between domestic chips and foreign top chip industries, especially the localization of chips based on smart phones and other devices still has a long way to go.
This is why Huawei Hisilicon, as one of the top ten IC chip designers in the world, is still not completely self-sufficient in the face of the US ban. Because a smart phone is not only the SoC chip itself, but also involves too many chip industry chains. In addition to integrated circuit design, the chip industry also includes integrated circuit manufacturing, integrated circuit packaging testing and so on.
After years of development, the semiconductor industry has gradually formed a situation in which IDM mode and fabless mode coexist. IDM mode is a vertically integrated manufacturing mode, that is, the design, production, packaging and testing of chips are all done by ourselves; Fabless mode is an integrated circuit design mode of fabless production line, which refers to a chip design enterprise without fabless, focusing on the design, development and sales of chips, and entrusting the rest to professional wafer foundries and packaging test plants respectively.
At present, only a few enterprises in the world, such as Intel, Samsung, TI and stmicroelectronics, have the technical and financial strength to adopt IDM mode and achieve complete self-sufficiency. Both Hayes in China and MediaTek, Qualcomm and Broadcom abroad have adopted the model of no factory and no wafer factory.
According to the 20 19 semiconductor market data released by SIA, the global semiconductor association, Intel beat Samsung to return to the first place, while Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron Technology, Broadcom, Qualcomm, TI, stmicroelectronics, Kioxia and NXP ranked 2- 10 respectively. Of the top 10, five are American manufacturers, two are Korean manufacturers, one is Japanese manufacturer, and there are two European manufacturers, but none of them in China is on the list.
According to CCTV news reports, relevant data released by the State Council show that the chip self-sufficiency rate in China will reach 70% in 2025, while that in China will be only about 30% in 20 19. There are enough domestic semiconductor enterprises, and it is also the largest semiconductor market in the world. However, there are still obvious shortcomings in the field of high-end chips, especially in the field of chip manufacturing and packaging testing.
The attack of the United States will make more terminal industries consider the safety of the whole supply chain, and more enterprises will invest in domestic core manufacturing and research and development. This is actually an industry opportunity, but at the same time, R&D cost and technical exchange will be limited to a certain extent, which is also a challenge.
Only SMIC in China can be a bit of a mesa in the higher requirements of advanced chips below 7nm, so continue to use foreign equipment to overcome the problem of high-end chips? Or return to the completely localized low-end chip market? I think everyone has had enough of the melons that SMIC insiders have recently changed. The localization of smart phone chips is not convenient here, but it is certain that the localization of smart phone chips has a long way to go, and the self-reliance of domestic enterprises will not happen overnight. After all, this is a "gap" in mask aligner.
Possible domestic core scheme of digital RMB hardware wallet
Returning to the topic of digital RMB hardware wallet, it is foreseeable that digital RMB will adopt a variety of hardware wallet schemes, including the scheme based on the built-in security chip of mobile phone, the smart card scheme based on the security chip and the SIM card scheme based on the security chip.
Among them, except for the simple smart card scheme, it is similar to the financial IC card in essence, and has independent ability in chip localization and product experience independent of smart phones. Previously, Ziguang Guowei said on the interactive platform that its smart security chip can be used as a security carrier in digital currency, such as digital currency wallet, and can also be used for data protection and security authentication in the payment process in digital currency.
According to the mobile payment network, most of the hardware wallets of digital RMB smart cards were developed by companies that used to make U shield products, and they have relatively perfect technical advantages in security and encryption.
From the domestic core, apart from the simple smart card, there are only two options for the digital RMB hardware wallet based on smart phones:
First, the domestic security chip scheme based on SIM card is adopted, which breaks away from the shackles of the built-in security chip of mobile phones.
20 19 in may, ziguang group and China Unicom jointly released the 5G super SIM card, which has both storage and SIM telecommunications functions, and supports 128G storage at the highest. 20 19, 12, 5G super SIM card was first listed. In April 2020, Mobile and Ziguang Guowei announced the official launch of the 5G Super SIM card.
At present, based on the built-in security chip and NFC function, the 5G super SIM card can be used as a transportation card, an access card and a car key offline, and can be used for financial security authentication, 5G electronic signature and large-sum transfer online. More importantly, the 5G Super SIM card is a financial-grade security chip independently developed by Ziguang Guowei, which has international CCEAL6+, UnionPay security and national security level 2. This provides a domestic background and "security" support for the 5G Super SIM card to expand digital RMB in the future.
Therefore, combined with Ziguang Guowei's previous statement on the interactive platform and the fact that the current digital RMB hardware wallet scheme based on SIM card mode has been tested internally, it is foreseeable that this scheme will be one of the key selection directions of several major operating organizations.
Second, break the original smart phone security chip pattern and reshape the smart phone security chip scheme.
The Suzhou digital RMB red envelope test is a "double offline" payment scheme based on hardware wallet, and a small number of winners can only experience it through designated mobile phones such as Huawei and vivo. This also reflects the requirement of hardware wallet for mobile phone security chip from the side, which needs a specific NFC mobile phone to realize. But in fact, the security chip on the mobile phone is not a "domestic core".
According to the mobile payment network, people in the mobile phone industry know that the situation of domestic smart phones in the field of security chips is almost zero, especially the NFC chips of flagship phones of mainstream brands are all NXP, and at present, NFC chips are basically packaged with security chips, which almost monopolizes the whole market.
"NFC chips and security chips can be separated in theory, but this means that more packaging space and higher technical difficulty are needed, and even the experience may be affected." The person told the mobile payment network when talking about the pattern of mobile phone security chips and NFC chips. "The main problem is the industrial chain. The market space is large and not scattered enough. After the new entrants are occupied by existing players, the investment is large, the expansion resistance is large, and the risk is high. "
In the final analysis, the current mobile phone security chip is closely related to the mobile wallet business based on NFC function, and this industrial chain involves banks, UnionPay, payment institutions, communication card companies, TSM service providers, machine manufacturers and so on. In the field of transportation, it can be said that it is a whole body.
"Aside from the price and performance of domestic security chips, as far as the newly established NFC payment ecosystem is concerned, once the chip is replaced, it means the reorganization of the entire ecosystem. On the one hand, new entrants face the pressure of expansion, and other enterprises in the industrial chain need to adapt accordingly. On the other hand, some mobile phone manufacturers may be reluctant to give up their established experience and take risks. " A veteran in the field of chips told the mobile payment network.
"But this is also a problem that must be faced and a change that needs to be made. Self-reliance is better than being controlled by others. We can see the epitome of the whole semiconductor industry from the Huawei incident. The chip industry chain needs to work together to overcome difficulties, especially on mobile phone security chips. " The above-mentioned person said.
It can be seen that it is more difficult and challenging to break the original pattern of mobile phone security chips. It is very challenging to reshape the industrial chain without considering the process and performance factors of chips, which is why this field has been monopolized for a long time.
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Judging from the existing domestic core, the digital RMB hardware wallet based on smart card or SIM card is more suitable and easier to land and popularize. From the experience point of view, it is obvious that the security chip built in the mobile phone has a better experience, but it is bound to be affected by localization.