The Electronic Intelligent Controller Industry Is Developing Rapidly, And There Are Many Development Opportunities

Electronic intelligent controller refers to a computer control unit designed and implemented for specific purposes in instruments, equipment, devices, and systems. It is an electronic component formed by electronic processing technology with an MCU chip or DSP chip as the core.

The basic working principles of electronic intelligent controllers mainly include task description and information transmission, state monitoring of controlled objects, reasoning decision-making, and control. The electronic intelligent controller can build an interconnected system structure through various hardware such as actuators, sensors, perception processors, environmental models, judgment components and behavior generators, and finally implement various working modes.

Intelligent Controller Industry Chain

The emergence and development of the electronic intelligent control industry is the result of a specialized division of labor. At present, a very complete industrial chain has been formed, including the supply of upstream semiconductor components, the manufacturing of midstream intelligent controllers, and downstream terminal applications.

Upstream: MCU Chips and DSP Chips Are the Core Components of Electronic Intelligent Controllers

Upstream semiconductor components generally include relevant raw materials required for the production of electronic components such as MCU chips, DSP chips, sensors, IGBTs, and PCBs.

MCU chip refers to a single-chip computer, that is, a chip-level computer formed by integrating CPU, memory, and various I/O interfaces on a chip.

The MCU chip market is currently highly concentrated. In 2019, the world's top ten manufacturers accounted for approximately 75% of the market share, and the main players are Renesas Electronics, NXP, Infineon, and Microchip Technology. In the domestic market, it is monopolized by foreign investors. In 2019, 75% of China's market share is in the hands of the top nine foreign companies.

DSP chip is one that can realize digital signal processing technology, which is unique in that it can process data in real-time.

DSP chip market in China is also dominated by foreign companies such as Texas Instruments, Motorola, Analog Devices, and Qualcomm, all of which occupy a 90% market share of China. Although domestic DSP chip manufacturers have recently made breakthroughs, their market share is still small.

Midstream: Intelligent Controller Industry Is Developing Rapidly

In the 1940s, electronic intelligent controllers were first widely used in industrial production. After the 1970s, the rapid development of microelectronic technology and power electronics technology established a solid technical foundation for the miniaturization and practicality of electronic intelligent controllers. Electronic intelligent controllers began to replace conventional mechanical controllers.

According to statistics, the global electronic intelligent controller market was only 635.7 billion US dollars in 2010. After 2013, it exceeded one trillion US dollars. Since then, it has maintained a steady growth momentum and jumped to 1.5 trillion US dollars in 2019. It is estimated that the global electronic intelligent controller market will exceed 2 trillion US dollars in 2025.

From the perspective of market distribution, the Asian region is the main consumer market for electronic smart controllers, accounting for 42.9%, followed by the European market, accounting for 24.9%.

The application range of electronic intelligent controller is very wide, and because of this, its development direction has been relatively scattered. In the early stage, it was often attached to a specific sub-industry and existed as a subsidiary part of the overall product. The truly large-scale industrialized electronic intelligent controller industry has only gradually taken shape in the past 20 years. At present, with the deepening of globalization, the electronic intelligent controller industry has evolved into a global competitive landscape.

According to scale and technical research and development strength, all electronic intelligent controller manufacturers in the world can be divided into three categories.

The first category is large-scale professional electronic intelligent controller manufacturers in Europe and America, such as Invis and Diehl. These manufacturers have brand, capital, management, and technical advantages. Before the end of the 1990s, they occupied most of the global market share. With the industrial transfer, high costs, slow response to market changes, and slow customer demand, the mainstream supplier status has declined in recent years, but it still has great advantages in the high-end market in the segmented field.

The second category is medium-scale electronic intelligent controller manufacturers. They can independently develop and provide related products and services, and have certain advantages in certain areas, such as Flextronics and CompuCom.

The advantages of this type of company also lie in brand, capital, and management, and the product cost is lower than that of the first type of company. But the disadvantages are weak R&D and design capabilities, insufficient specialization in the manufacturing process of electronic intelligent controllers, and slow feedback from the market and customers.

Domestic electronic intelligent controller manufacturers are emerging forces of international suppliers that have risen rapidly in recent years. Compared with the first type, by integrating the advantages of the domestic integrated electronic supply chain, domestic manufacturers have a quick market response and obvious cost advantages, with the characteristics of strong specialization, independently controllable products, and industrial proficiency. At present, the two strong advantages of cost and technology have made their share of the global electronic intelligent controller market continue to rise.

The last category is small-scale manufacturers. Such manufacturers are mainly engaged in the control field of small electrical appliances with simple technology and many customers. They have limited technology and R&D capabilities, which are most vulnerable to market fluctuations.

China's electronic intelligent control industry started relatively late.

Benefiting from the drive of global economic integration, the focus of R&D and production of the electronic intelligent controller industry has gradually shifted from developed countries to developing countries. China has seized the opportunity to make the electronic intelligent controller market grow much faster than the global market.

In 2009, the scale of China's electronic intelligent controller market was only 407.5 billion yuan, but in 2015 it exceeded 1 trillion yuan, an increase of about 151%. In 2019, the market size was 2.2 trillion yuan, which is estimated that by 2025, China's electronic intelligent controller market will exceed 4 trillion yuan.

Downstream Market: Wide Application and Broad Prospects

Intelligent controller products have a wide range of applications, covering many industries such as household appliances, automobiles, home medical and health, smart buildings, and electric tools. Among them, automotive electronics, smart home, and power tools are the current three application scenarios.