Midea’s Annual Output of Self-Developed MCU Chips Reached 10 Million in 2021
On Monday, Chinese technology firm Midea Group issued announcements via an interactive platform for investors, saying that after its entrance into the field of computer chips in the second half of 2018, mass production of the products began in 2021. The main chip type put into production is an MCU control chip, with an annual output of about 10 million. In the future, the company will continue to increase its chip output, and enter the field of other home appliance-related chip products such as power and power supplies.
In December 2018, Midea Innovation Investment Co., Ltd., a company owned by Midea Group, established MR Semiconductor Ltd. (hereinafter MR Semi). As the core platform with independent intellectual property rights of chip R&D and design, MR Semi was Midea’s first attempt in the computer chips field. At present, Midea indirectly holds 57.6923% of MR Semi’s company shares.
According to its official website, MR Semi is an IC design company specializing in the development and production of industrial semiconductors. It focuses on providing chips of all kinds for the home appliance industry, with four present product series including MCU, IPM, PMIC and IoT-related IC. As public information on Chinese commercial enquiry platform Qichacha indicates, the company currently has 26 patent registrations. Among them, 25 are regarding inventions, of which three have been authorized, and 22 are still in the stage of disclosure or substantive examination.
Liu Kai, general manager of MR Semi, said just recently that it is estimated that Midea will mass produce 80 million chips in 2022. Their products will cover all chip categories of home appliances such as power chips, power supply chips and IoT chips. He also revealed that MR Semi will actively lay out automobile chips.
Midea Group is not solely betting on its chip layout, but exerting strength in multiple directions.
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In 2019, Midea loT released HolaCon, a special-purpose smart chip for home appliances, and a high-performance and low-cost smart connection module equipped with HolaCon chip, which have been fully applied to all kinds of smart home appliances produced by Midea.
In January 2021, Midea Group registered and established Meiken Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 200 million yuan. The company is wholly-owned by Midea Group.
According to its official website, the company’s project substantially started in 2009. Its IPM was first released in 2011 and applied in large quantities in 2014. By the first half of 2021, the total pieces of IPM applied has reached 17.58 million. The company has now over 500 core patents. It is equipped with a R&D team and product packaging and testing team, which consist of doctoral members. The latter has created a highly automated “material-to-finished” semiconductor production line, with an annual production capacity of over 12 million pieces, as off the end of 2021. The company now boasts highly flexible, digital and information-based production conditions.
