The chip design workforce ZEKU, below OPPO, has been disbanded for two months now. Currently, the long run whereabouts of many of the firm’s executives have been decided. According to a number of knowledgeable sources, greater than a dozen administration members of ZEKU have just lately joined the autonomous driving firm Momenta.
Among them are: ZEKU COO Li Zonglin, ZEKU Software Department Director Jia Mingjun, ZEKU SoC 2 Senior Director Yu Guojun and almost ten middle-level managers below him. In addition, Momenta can be in touch with Sun Chengkun, the previous head of the ZEKU NPU Chip Center.
The executives at ZEKU take pleasure in beneficiant therapy, with knowledgeable sources stating that their annual salaries vary from ¥2 million to ¥6 million ($280,000 to $840,000). Momenta’s vital recruitment of expertise within the chip trade is expounded to its new strategic structure.
The aforementioned knowledgeable sources mentioned that after a number of senior executives from ZEKU joined Momenta, they are going to be led by Li Zonglin or set up a brand new division to concentrate on the analysis and improvement of autonomous driving chips. The introduction of expertise and chip manufacturing each have increased necessities for funding. It is known that Momenta is at the moment in touch with a number of funding establishments, together with the Hefei authorities in China.
Currently, within the automotive AI chip market, NVIDIA has already occupied a substantial share of the high-end market, whereas Horizon Robotics can be changing into the popular home different chip. It seems to be fairly difficult for second and third-tier chip “players” to interrupt via.
In distinction, the market competitors for pure software program algorithms seems to be extra fierce. Taking Momenta’s public information for example, its automotive shoppers at the moment embody SAIC Zhiji, Geely Lotus, BYD YangWang, Great Wall Salon, amongst others. However, these automobile fashions are all positioned within the high-end section.
SEE ALSO: OPPO Disbands ZEKU Team, May Give up Self-developed Chips
In the broader market of vehicles priced beneath ¥200,000 ($28,000), low-level superior driver help techniques are a extra mainstream alternative. This signifies that these automotive producers will strictly management the price of clever driving capabilities. A value warfare is inevitable. During this yr’s Auto Shanghai, Momenta additionally partnered with NVIDIA to launch a cheaper good driving resolution, aiming to grab the mid-range automotive market priced between ¥150,000 and ¥350,000 ($20,000-$48,000).
Under the strict price management and intense value competitors, the “moat” of the clever driving software program algorithm firm just isn’t profound. However, if self-developed chip {hardware} is used, the scenario could also be completely different.
On one hand, acquiring extra unique custom-made chip {hardware} will speed up the effectivity of software program algorithms. On the opposite hand, from a income perspective, the algorithm firm doesn’t need to get deeply concerned in value wars and has a broader supply of revenue era. In the long term, with built-in software program and {hardware} capabilities, corporations may also acquire increased worth expectations in secondary markets and lift extra capital.
Of course, not all corporations have the identical wonderful software program and {hardware} capabilities. Building a proficient workforce is simply step one in Momenta’s transformation. The subsequent means of understanding market calls for, conducting chip design, packaging, manufacturing and supply, refining tool-chains, and establishing an ecosystem might be a for much longer journey.
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