According to the report by Caixin News on August 14th, with the acceleration of new energy vehicles, the main trend of the automobile market has gradually shifted from electrification to intelligence. Recently, at a press conference held by Intel in Shenzhen, Jack Weast, Intel's vice president, globally launched its first independent graphics card for vehicles-ARC A760-A. This industry's first independent graphics product for vehicles has a platform computing power four times of integrated graphics and is considered as Intel's sincerity to enter the AI intelligent cockpit.

Intel's bet on the intelligent cockpit is not unfounded. Currently, "intelligence" is an important factor driving the growth of the automotive semiconductor market.

Guo Junli, IDC's research director for the Asia-Pacific region, told reporters that the popularization of ADAS and autonomous driving technology has increased the demand for high-performance processors, AI chips, and sensors. "By 2030, the semiconductor market will undergo a tremendous change, and the market size will reach 1 trillion US dollars," said Jack Weast.

Under this circumstance, semiconductor manufacturers have begun to collectively lay out the chip-racing for intelligent cockpits. In addition to Intel, MediaTek and Nvidia have also announced their cooperation on AI cockpits this year, and domestic manufacturers such as Rockchip Electronics, UNISOC, and Horizon Robotics have also entered the field.

By choosing to launch its new product in China, Intel has obviously set its sights on the huge market for new energy vehicles in China. According to configuration data from the CHEAA Research Institute, the overall penetration rate of intelligent cockpits in China has reached nearly 60%. Next, with the further maturity of the entire industry chain and the continuous downward pressure on driving costs, the overall penetration rate of intelligent cockpits is expected to continue to increase, and the overall penetration rate this year is expected to exceed 70%.

"By 2025, China will have an 80% penetration rate of intelligent cockpits, and AI will become the most significant feature of intelligent cockpits," said Jack Weast. Since this year, domestic new energy vehicle brands have started to promote the landing of AI. The Yunxiaoli and Question brands have launched models with large AI models, and AI + intelligent cockpits have begun to take shape.

This trend has become an important factor driving the development of the automotive semiconductor industry. "The popularization of ADAS and autonomous driving technology has increased demand for high-performance processors, AI chips, and sensors. Overall, the semiconductor market will be more positive and optimistic in 2024 than in 2023," said Guo Junli.

According to TechInsights research data, the global automotive semiconductor market is expected to grow by 16.5% in 2023, reaching a new record scale of $69.2 billion. IDC's latest research predicts that with the increasing demand for high-performance vehicle chips, the global automotive semiconductor market will exceed $88 billion by 2027.

Chips related to intelligent cockpits have become the core of the development of automotive "intelligence" and are the focus of competition among semiconductor manufacturers.

At present, Qualcomm still occupies an important position in the field of intelligent cockpits. According to the ranking of cockpit domain control chip suppliers' installation volume from January to May by Gasgoo Auto Research Institute, Qualcomm still ranked first with a market share of 64.1%. AMD ranked second with a market share of 11.8%, and Renesas Electronics ranked third with a market share of 8.8%.

With the huge potential of this field discovered, domestic manufacturers have begun to massively enter this field and have begun to emerge. Currently, Huawei and Ingenic have squeezed into the top five in the above rankings, and Xinchip, which has entered the top ten. In addition, Rui Chi Micro, UNISOC, and other manufacturers are also actively developing intelligent cockpit chips. With the collective entry of domestic and foreign manufacturers and the higher demand for intelligent cockpit computing power brought about by the implementation of AI, it remains to be seen whether the industry will usher in reshuffle.

The industry's prospects are generally optimistic, but Guo Junli also told reporters that the development of automotive semiconductors is not without hidden dangers. First, the stability of the global supply chain needs to be considered. "After experiencing the impact of the epidemic and geopolitical tensions, the automotive semiconductor supply chain has been restored to some extent but still faces challenges. Especially the uncertainty caused by geopolitics regarding the supply of raw materials, limited production capacity, and logistics and transportation."

In addition, semiconductor manufacturers need to pay attention to technological changes and be wary of increasing competition. Guo Junli believes that with the rapid development of technology, chip design and production processes need to be continuously upgraded to cope with more complex automotive electronic systems and autonomous driving technologies. The speed of these technological updates may cause some companies to fail to keep up in time and thus lose market share. With more and more companies entering the automotive semiconductor market, competition is becoming more intense. This may lead to increased price pressure and reduced profit margins.

In addition, Guo Junli also stated that it is necessary to pay attention to changes in policies and regulations. "Automotive semiconductors are directly affected by the development of the automotive industry, and governments around the world are constantly changing regulations on aspects such as automobile emissions and autonomous driving safety, which may affect the demand pattern for automotive semiconductors. For example, changes in subsidies for new energy vehicles in Europe and China may directly affect market demand."