Broadcom 4-in-1 Chip Fires NFC Market War

According to experts' predictions, the technology launched by NFC 10 years ago has experienced more than 3,000 brewing days and will enter a period of overall outbreak in 2013. According to the latest IMS Research report, shipments of NFC-enabled mobile phones have grown to 268 million units this year, an increase of 123% from the 120 million total in 2012. IMS Research also predicts that by 2017, the entire NFC mobile phone will Shipments will increase nearly tenfold from 2012 to 1.2 billion units.

According to predictions from another research institution, ABI Research, as the main aspect of NFC applications, the global mobile payment transaction volume is expected to exceed US$4.2 billion this year, and by 2016 this figure will reach US$100 billion. In the face of such a large and rapidly growing market, upstream and downstream manufacturers in the entire industry chain are struggling to gain a share in this market.

Based on the above data support, the promotion of mobile phone manufacturers, the formulation of relevant standards for operators and UnionPay, and the acceleration of R&D of upstream NFC chip manufacturers, the NFC explosion may have really arrived this year.

NFC application hot burning Broadcom topography map

As far as the current NFC development status is concerned, integrating NFC functions on smart phones is the main trend. The world's major mobile phone vendors have basically launched at least one NFC-enabled mobile phone. NFC on mobile phones, there are three main modes of realization: all-terminal (NFC controller and security module integrated in the phone's NFC chip), full SIM card (NFC controller and security module is concentrated in the SIM card) and SWP-SIM (The NFC controller is on the mobile phone and the security module is on the SIM card.) All three programs have different supporters, and due to the low maturity of the industry, the interests of various parties and the different business models in different places, it also leads to NFC. Mobile phone programs have not been fixed in China or even internationally.

And in the NFC band standard is also a stubborn word, there is support for the 13.56MHZ standard side, there are also support for the traditional 2.4G fans. In fact, it is plain here that it is also a product of conflicts of interest. Each supporter has his own abacus in mind, but he has failed to unify a compromise solution. However, it seems that the 2.4G frequency supported by China Mobile is gradually at a disadvantage.

To realize the NFC function, the NFC chipset cannot be the key to the past. Broadcom Corporation, as a leader in the wired and wireless industry, has invested a lot of energy in the NFC field. According to Kong Haiquan, marketing director of Broadcom’s Wireless Products Division, Broadcom launched two NFC chips from the end of 2012 to the beginning of this year, namely the BCM2079X and the industry’s first quad-in-one solution BCM43341. According to ABI Research, the shipment of NFC core modules in this year is expected to exceed 100 million, and by 2016, this number will be 1.5 billion. The attractiveness of this huge market should be the starting point for Broadcom’s leadership in the acquisition of NFC in 2010 in Innovision.

Of course, to better promote NFC chips, for manufacturers, NFC can bring them what they can and use NFC to provide customers with what is the most basic selling point. According to the introduction of the director of the hole, not only the popularity of mobile payment applications has accelerated, NFC can also play a major role in personal entertainment terminal connection and WIFI Display (multi-screen display) due to the ease of connection. It is the "selling point" that terminal manufacturers need. Imagine that by holding the mobile phone next to the TV, you can display the mobile video on the TV. You can print the photos on your mobile phone by moving the mobile phone closer to the printer. This function, which used to require several steps, is now NFC-enabled. One can show that this is not the best "selling point".

In the face of the current “chaotic” situation in NFC development, Kong’s director believes that the concerted efforts of operators and banks will standardize NFC, which is the basis for ensuring the development of NFC.

Why choose Broadcom's BCM43341?

According to Director Kong, the number of consumer electronic equipment terminals will exceed 5 billion by 2014. According to the current market demand, NFC will rise and increase. This is one of the reasons that Broadcom started pushing the BCM2079X and BCM43341 together since the end of last year.

In addition to Broadcom, the companies that currently do NFC chips on the market include Infineon, Marvell, NXP, and other well-known big companies, especially NXP. Due to its early involvement in the market, it has the largest market share, according to IMS Research data, 2012. The market share of NXP chips is 32%. As a wireless leader, Broadcom can stand out in this field. This is also the mission of BCM43341.

According to the introduction of the director of the hole, BCM43341, as the sixth-generation combination chip of Broadcom, has the advantages of size, power consumption and other aspects, and its features include several aspects:

This is a four-in-one chip that provides WIFI, Bluetooth, NFC, and FM functions in one solution. These several functions can work simultaneously, saving the need for adding too many components to the phone and increasing the number of components. The area of ​​the entire BOM board.

Secondly, due to the adoption of a standardized 40nm low-power CMOS circuit technology process, this chip can reduce the power consumption of the product to 10% of competitors' products of the same type. This has caused the battery capacity of mobile devices to fail to increase, while the power-consuming components have gradually become more environment. Next, it is a very important advantage, I believe this is also one of the starting points that can attract most manufacturers to use the program.

Third, the size of this product and its peripheral components have been greatly optimized. Its BOM area is only 100 square millimeters, while the periphery has only 34 components. Most of the peripheral components are passive components such as resistors and capacitors. For the entire product, it can also simplify the development.

In addition, there is a lot of flexibility in SE (Security Elements). Broadcom provides customers with SE solutions that choose their own chips. This is a very convenient opening for developers.

In addition to the above advantages in terms of hardware, Broadcom has done extremely well in the software of BCM43341. Director Kong introduced that Broadcom will open the NFC software stack to the Android 4.2 operating system while opening the software to the customers in both the bottom layer and the upper layer. Director Kong stressed that Broadcom will continue to provide relevant upgrade support in accordance with the Android system upgrade.

While talking about the focus of NFC solution selection, Kong believes that testing considerations are the focus of NFC, because NFC is technically relatively simple compared to technologies such as RFID, but due to various tests The needs of the selection of an NFC solution are first and foremost possible to meet the test criteria required for the application. For Broadcom's products, this is simply not a matter for consideration because Broadcom's NFC products have passed all NFC standard tests in the industry, and customers can use any NFC solution according to their needs.

After the exchange of this seminar, we have seen Broadcom's efforts in simplification, high efficiency, and energy saving. We believe that with such outstanding products and attitudes towards products, we believe that in the field of NFC, Broadcom will Give us greater surprises.