China Securities News App learned that Huajin Securities issued a research report stating that as the development of mobile processors, high-performance computing (HPC), and artificial intelligence (AI) integrated circuits continues, the amount of data that needs to be processed continues to grow exponentially. These developments bring new testing challenges, including the need for extremely large SCAN vector depth, extreme power supply requirements, fast yield learning requirements, and multi-site (site) parallel testing requirements. The space for domestic alternative is larger in the field of SoC testers. It is recommended to pay attention to relevant testing machine products entering major design/manufacturing/packaging and testing production lines or manufacturers with relevant technical reserves, such as Beijing Huafeng Test & Control Technology (688200.SH), Hangzhou Changchuan Technology (300604.SZ), etc.

Event:From March 20th to March 22nd, SEMICON China 2024 was grandly held at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. This exhibition attracted more than 1,100 companies to participate, covering the entire industry chain such as chip manufacturing, equipment, materials, photovoltaics, etc., and collectively exploring the global industrial pattern and cutting-edge technology. Among them, Beijing Huafeng Test & Control STS 8200 PIM, STS 8300, STS8600 and other equipment were exhibited, and Hangzhou Changchuan Technology's testing machines, sorting machines, probe stations, AOI equipment and other main products also appeared one by one at this exhibition.

The main points of Huajin Securities are as follows:

The concentration of the testing machine market is high, and the technical difficulty/value per unit of SoC testing machine is high.

According to SEMI data, from the perspective of manufacturers, Advantest and Teradyne occupy a relatively large market share. In 2021, the combined market share of Teradyne and Advantest in the global semiconductor testing machine market was 84% (Teradyne 51%, Advantest 33%).

Among them, Teradyne has an absolute advantage in the layout of discrete devices, RF devices, memory chips, analog chips, and SoC chips in the European and American markets. Advantest is mainly focused on SoC chip and memory chip test machines and sorting machines, with a sales market mainly in Asia. In Q1-Q3 of FY2023, the company's SoC testing machine accounted for 77.90%, and the sales in the Asian region (excluding Japan) accounted for 89.16%. From the analysis of the domestic market competition pattern, the market concentration is relatively low compared to the global market.

In the field of modeling/analog-digital hybrid and discrete device testers, domestic alternatives have basically been achieved, and there is a larger space for domestic alternatives in the field of SoC, memory, and RF testers. According to data from the HUAJING Industrial Research Institute, in 2021, the market share of Beijing Huafeng Test & Control Technology and Hangzhou Changchuan Technology in the domestic semiconductor testing machine market increased to 8% and 5%, respectively. Testing machines run through the entire industry chain before and after, and are the last line of defense to ensure the quality of chips. In the IC design process, testing machines, sorting stations, and probe stations mainly participate in design verification links, and design companies respectively use the above equipment to test finished products such as wafer samples and packaging samples to verify whether the sample functions and performance meet the design requirements.

In the IC manufacturing process, testing equipment is used to detect wafers and output wafer maps to save packaging costs. In the IC packaging and testing process, testing equipment is used to test the chips after packaging is completed to verify whether the product performance meets the standards. The main sub-sectors of the testing machine are analog testers (including discrete device testers, analog testers, and analog-digital hybrid testers), SoC testers, memory testers, and RF testers, each with different technical characteristics and difficulties, and the difference in unit price is very large. Relatively speaking, analog testers have the lowest technical difficulty and lowest unit value, while SoC and memory testers have the highest difficulty and unit value.

Advantest V9300 expandable SoC test platform, widely used and recognized by major IDM

With its expandable platform architecture, the V93000 achieves testing of various types of chips through flexible machine configuration, and one device can meet the testing needs of chips ranging from low-cost IoT chips to high-end chips such as automotive electronics and highly integrated multi-core processors. The V93000 digital test solution is based on Advantest's reliable general-purpose channel architecture, providing many functions for core digital test cases. Whether it is dealing with high test channel numbers, achieving high parallelism and high co-test efficiency, processing a large amount of scanning data, supporting complex power supplies, or exploring high-speed or high-precision timing tests, the V93000 can provide a solution that covers the entire field at once.

The V93000 has been installed globally with more than 6,000 units, of which about 3,000 are distributed in various test foundries in Asia. It has been widely used and recognized by all major IDM and has become a universal reference platform for testing. The new V93000 EXAScale SoC test system is a new machine designed for advanced digital chips with ultra-large-scale computing capabilities. The new test head of the system adopts Xtreme Link technology, and is equipped with a new EXA Scale general digital board and power board, providing a brand-new testing solution, which can reduce testing costs and shorten the time to market for chips.

Domestic equipment manufacturers are making advances in the SoC field, and the domestication rate of testing machines is expected to climb higher.

ソフトウェアに向けたSTS8600、次世代SoC領域テスト機である。このモデルは、新しいソフトウェアアーキテクチャと分散型マルチワークステーション並列制御システムを使用しており、さらに多くのテストチャネルとより高いテスト周波数を備えています。また、水冷放熱システムを搭載しており、華峰测控製品ラインをさらに充実させ、製品のテスト範囲を拡大し、長期的な発展に強力な支援を提供します。

D9000 SoCテスト機は、量産向けの高性能集積回路テスト機であり、 集積回路CP テストとFT テストに適応し、数値ロジックチップ、アナログ/デジタル混合チップ、マイクロプロセッサーシステムレベルのSoCおよびRFICなどの製品タイプに適応し、各ハンドラーまたはプローバに適応できます。また、利用者が選択できる様々なモジュールを備えており、数値、電源、アナログ、射频モジュールを含み、数値ロジックチップ、MCU、SoC、射频チップの自動テストシステムに適応できます。生産効率は、外国自主ブランドのSocテスト機に劣らず、パターン変換を行うソフトウェアツールに対応し、業界で一般的なWGL、STIL、VCDおよびEVCDファイルをサポートします。

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