On September 17, 2019, the 7^th 2019 International RF-SOI Workshop held by SOI International Industry Alliance was held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Pudong, Shanghai. It was organized by Shanghai Simgui Technology Co., Ltd. and hosted by SOI International Industry Alliance, VeriSilicon, National Silicon Industry Group (NSIG) and Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT). A total of 500 industry elites from the world's leading semiconductor companies such as Global Foundry, Tower Jazz, Soitec, Murata pSemi, SMIC Ningbo, China Mobile Technology Research Institute, Yole France, the world's leading RF front-end market research agency for cell phones, as well as major domestic and international investment institutions and government departments, dedicated this year's summit to a profound discussion on the hottest 5G communication technology and whether its ecosystem is mature.

      Dr. Song Dan of China Mobile, gave a presentation on "5G is here, are you ready?" during the first keynote speech in the morning.This time the report shortens the contents of the FR2 mm wave of 5G communication and focuses more on the application of Sub-6GHz in the FR1 band of 5G communication, which is more practical. Compared to n41 (2.496 - 2.690GHz), the highest bar of 4G LTE, n77 (3.300 - 4.200GHz), n78 (3.300 - 3.800GHz) and n79 (4.400 - 5.000GHz) of Sub-6GHz are higher. The power of HPUE is increased from 23dBm to 26dBm of 4G LTE. The possible architectures of Sub-6GHz are described as 1T4R, Type1 and 2T4R, Type2. The higher frequency and power bring technical challenges to the RF front end devices, including the RF switch, array tuner, PA and filter. Therefore Dr. Song Dan also raises the challenge of whether the SOI process can cover such a high frequency and power.

      A report on the morning's second session was given by Cedric Malaquin, Market Analyst at Yole, on "5G is on, which RFSOI technologies will be affected?".It updates last year's numbers and categories based on the latest market trends. The market share of the split switch (SW) and low noise amplifier (LNA) will increase from USD 925 million in 2018 to USD 1,734 million in 2025; will increase from USD 514 million in 2018 to USD 1,225 million in 2025 for the antenna tuner; and will rise from USD 2,500 million in 2018 to USD 2,898 million in 2025 billion USD of module chip for the reception. The above market segment is precisely the focus of CanaanTek. CanaanTek provided more than 300 million RF switching products in 2017.Since 2018, CanaanTek, one of the first RF switching suppliers in China, has cooperated with major domestic SAW/BAW filter manufacturers to provide large SOI switches with high integration, high linearity and low interpolation loss.

       Spokespersons from RF chip design companies and chip manufacturers in China conducted an in-depth discussion on the progress made in RF-SOI during the 2nd China RF-SOI Ecosystem in the afternoon of the conference. CanaanTek has entered the domestic RF device supplier ecosystem in the RF switching category, according to the latest report from Yole. CanaanTek will bound to make persistent efforts to innovate in the field of Antenna tuning. CanaanTek will seek a 10% global share in this segment by 2023. So regarding the reason that the RF switch, antenna tuner, and LNA that focus on SOI do not enter the market for the larger PA and filter, Dr.Ni Wenhai from CanaanTek reveals that CanaanTek has accumulated many years of SOI design technology, which makes CanaanTek even more beneficial. So we hope to be unique and No.1 in this segment. The PA and filter areas involve more complex operations and routings. Currently, each RF design company has its own expertise. Only by exhibiting own strengths will lead to solid and strong cooperation in the future.

        Ni Wenhai is the founder, chairman and chief technology officer of CanaanTek and a national leader in 5G RF. He gave a keynote speech titled "Critical SOI CMOS Blocks in the 5G NR Sub-6GHz RF Frond-End Architectures" in the afternoon. According to Dr. Ni's report, Huawei launched the world's latest 7nm Kirin 990 processor and Balong's 5G communication modem details last week. It is noted that only Sub-6GHZ is focused on the processing of 5G, excluding the millimeter wave at 28GHz, which is currently not practical. It is also based on such a market trend that an in-depth analysis is made in the report of Ni Wenhai on the 1T4R system architecture and 2T4R system architecture of the front end of 5GNRSub-6GHzRF. Ni Wenhai explained the key technical specifications, innovations and progress made by Canaantek, the first domestic design company involved in 5G RF devices for smartphones, for the RF switches DPDT, DP4T and SP4T, as well as the future 3P3T and 4P4T sets under such system architecture.

       The Sino-U.S. trade war has brought uncertain factors, such as a lack of core to domestic mobile phone manufacturers. After more than a year of the trade war, major cell phone manufacturers are also actively cultivating and investing in domestic ecological chains, including RF chip design companies. Ni Wenhai believes that what we can do is to prepare for the substitution and supply of domestic brand chips. As early as a few years ago, CanaanTek was all indigenized in the backend operation such as wafer production, packaging and testing. The list of embargoes initiated by the U.S. against Huawei in May 2019, followed by chip embargoes for similar suppliers of U.S. RF chips, Qorvo and SKYWORKS. It provides an unexpected substitution opportunity for Chinese RF chip manufacturers. CanaanTek, representing the domestic RF chip company, is more likely to highlight the advantages of local enterprises in terms of prices, supply chain stability and technical support while ensuring product quality and performance.

      The night of September 17 was refreshing. Participants expressed their views in a relaxed atmosphere. Both foreign and domestic colleagues are optimistic about the prospects of domestic RF chip design companies. The high five-star red flag is waving. Next month marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Ni Wenhai  emotionally expressed that although the market is cold, we should and can do what in line with and promote it。 In the face of the significant changes, domestic RF chip manufacturers should gain more opportunities to cooperate with first-tier mobile phone brand customers such as Huawei, VIVO, OPPO and Xiaomi. As a result, domestic handset manufacturers are supplied with more domestically owned devices. Things lie in human beings, and God will always give opportunities to those who work with his heart. The CanaanTek expressed its appreciation for the photo of this press release provided by the organizer, Simugi, and will continue to support such a summit forum to promote the development of 5G communication technology in China.