2024 Tongxin Micro Partner Conference Held in Beijing: Chips for Security, Power, and Collaborative Growth

On August 21, the 2024 Tongxin Micro Partner Conference themed "Chips for Security, Power, and Collaborative Growth" was successfully held in Beijing. The event spotlighted the integration of security chips with automotive electronics, their applications across multiple fields, and innovations in core technologies. Over 500 guests from government, industry, academia, and research sectors gathered to explore strategies for driving the semiconductor industry forward and fostering an open, efficient, and sustainable chip ecosystem.Li Shaohua, Deputy Secretary General of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.

Chen Jie, Co-President of Tsinghua Unigroup, expressed gratitude to the attendees and emphasized that the group has embarked on a new trajectory of healthy development, focusing on semiconductor integrated circuits (IC) and foundational core technology industries that underpin the digital economy. As a core enterprise, Tongxin Micro has made significant achievements in technological innovation. Looking ahead, the group will prioritize artificial intelligence, automotive electronics, 6G, and low-orbit satellites, and provide comprehensive support to drive Tongxin Micro's growth. Mr. Chen also encouraged all partners to join forces in shaping a brighter future together.Jake Saunders, Vice President of ABI Research for the Asia-Pacific region, provided a deep analysis of the market drivers and growth prospects for the security chip and automotive electronics industries. He pointed out that the security requirements of smart devices and the form factors of smart cards are evolving with the ecosystem, creating vast opportunities for chip suppliers. Saunders also noted that electric vehicles are transforming the market, and with the gradual advancements in autonomous vehicles and active automotive safety systems, the demand for automotive chips—particularly in security, integration, and intelligence—is expected to rise sharply over the next 10 to 20 years, ushering in a golden era for the automotive chip industry.

Zhou Xiaoying, CEO of Gasgoo, provided a comprehensive analysis of the development history, current status, and application progress of China's passenger vehicle market. She noted that China's automotive market has gone through three major stages: technology introduction, independent innovation, and rapid growth. The new energy vehicle market has risen swiftly, leading transformative changes across the industry. Meanwhile, as global competition in chips intensifies, China is accelerating efforts to domesticate the production of automotive-grade chips. Backed by government policy support and corporate strategies, the country is striving to secure a strong foothold in the global semiconductor market.

Strategic Layout Advancements: Embarking on a Fully "Chip"-Driven Journey

At the conference, Yue Chao, President of Tongxin Micro, outlined the company's strategic layout in response to current industry trends. He emphasized that in the highly scaled and intensely competitive IC design sector, pursuing excellent cost-effectiveness is key to survival and growth. Tongxin Micro is committed to becoming a world-class IC design enterprise through comprehensive and in-depth professional capability development and continuous innovation in technology and products. The company focuses on two main areas: automotive electronics and security chips. Based on its deep technical expertise and leading market position, it has created a diverse product portfolio characterized by high quality, excellent cost-effectiveness, and diverse offerings. Leveraging the strong platform resources of Tsinghua Unigroup, Tongxin Micro has consistently strengthened its technological breakthroughs and talent acquisition, achieving resource integration and industry synergy. Looking ahead, Tongxin Micro will continue to adhere to the philosophy of "being more professional and consistently innovative," collaborating with its partners to build a secure, open, and efficient new industrial ecosystem.

Subsequently, Tongxin Micro provided an in-depth explanation of its business layouts in the fields of security chips and automotive electronics.

Regarding the security chip business, John Zou, Executive Vice President of Tongxin Micro, highlighted the pervasive presence of the company's security chips across various sectors, including electronic certificates, mobile communications, financial payments, consumer electronics, industrial applications, IoT, and automotive electronics. As a global leader in security chip innovation, Tongxin Micro stays ahead with cutting-edge algorithms, larger capacities, faster speeds, and lower power consumption. Utilizing technologies such as next-generation PKE cryptographic coprocessors, post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, VHBR, and ClassD 1.2V, the company delivers smarter, more convenient, and more secure chip solutions to address the growing complexities of cybersecurity and multi-platform compatibility. These advancements empower industrial transformation and upgrade.

As for the automotive electronics business, Huang Jun, Senior Vice President of Tongxin Micro, noted that capitalizing on its exceptional design capabilities and strong supply chain system, Tongxin Micro has developed a comprehensive range of automotive chip products, including automotive control chips, automotive security chips, power devices, power management solutions, and more. These products are widely applied in areas such as powertrain, chassis, body, smart cockpit, and intelligent driving. Moving forward, the company will continue to expand its product lines and collaborate with industry partners to deliver higher safety through high-quality products, more benefits with excellent cost-effectiveness, and more options with diverse offerings. This commitment guarantees that customers will have unmatched flexibility in selecting chip products, while also driving the automotive industry's advancement toward the "new four modernizations" (electrification, connectivity, intelligence, and shared mobility).

Release of Groundbreaking New Products: Leading the Trend of "Chip"

InnovationAt the forum, Tongxin Micro unveiled two major new products: the E450R, the first open-architecture security chip in the world, and the THA6412, the first Arm Cortex-R52+ ASIL D MCU in China. These groundbreaking products have drawn widespread attention for their powerful capabilities.

The E450R features both an open hardware architecture and an open software architecture. The open hardware architecture includes an open instruction set with enhanced cutting and expansion capabilities, while the open software architecture boasts an efficient instruction set, supporting ISO/IEC international standard languages and structured virtual machines. The integration of hardware and software significantly enhances the security and transaction performance of devices that incorporate this chip, reduces application code size, and allows for the loading of more applications. Lu Qian, Deputy General Manager of the Security Chip Business Division at Tongxin Micro, stated: "The E450R has currently received several authoritative certifications, including UnionPay Chip Security Certification, UnionPay Embedded Software Security Certification, UnionPay IC Card Operating System Product Certification, Chinese Cryptography Level II Certification, and CCRC IT EAL4+ Certification. We look forward to working with our partners to promote the popularization and application of open-architecture products in the security chip industry."

The THA6412 is designed for advanced E/E architectures. Built on the Arm high-performance real-time processor core R52+, the THA6412 offers comprehensive improvements in computing power, process, architecture, functional safety, and cybersecurity compared to the previous generation. It has obtained multiple authoritative certifications, including the ISO 26262 ASIL D functional safety certification, and has undergone rigorous testing. "The THA6412 is tailored to meet the demands of powertrain and chassis domain control scenarios, especially for multi-in-one electric drive control units, engines, chassis domain control units, and zonal control units. It provides users with a completely new driving experience," said Yang Bin, Deputy General Manager of the Automotive Electronics Business Division at Tongxin Micro.In response to the booming market, technological innovation has undoubtedly become the key to leading industry transformation. Tongxin Micro shared one of its core technologies: Non-Volatile Memory (NVM). As a critical technology in the chip industry, embedded non-volatile memory (eNVM) is more suitable for applications requiring high security. With years of experience in eNVM research and development, Tongxin Micro possesses expertise in circuit design, testing, evaluation, and large-scale production of various storage types.

Finally, in his keynote speech, Chen Gang, Vice President of Tongxin Micro, emphasized that, in light of a new historical stage, the company continues to strengthen its information construction. It has established comprehensive quality management guidelines and, by enhancing its infrastructure and key capabilities, is steadily laying a reliable foundation for its goal of becoming a world-class IC design enterprise.Additionally, nearly 20 renowned domestic and international companies were invited to attend the conference, where they showcased cutting-edge technological achievements,spanning from product design to application implementation. This demonstrated the vibrant "chip" innovation amid the rapidly evolving industry landscape.