USB 3.0 market to take off to build a complete ecosystem is the key

The USB3.0 market seems to have finally shown off - the recent USB Design Forum (USB-IF) has certified nearly 120 products that meet USB3.0 specifications (SuperSpeedUSB). The transmission rate of USB3.0 can be increased from USB2.0 per second to 5G per second at 480Mb. USB-IF said the products are covered by motherboards, laptops, memory controllers, hard drives, PCIExpress, and individual chips. In 2010, according to IDC, an international research organization, the demand for USB3.0 chips was 12 million 450 thousand, and in 2011 the chance jumped to 100 million. USB3.0 can be described as "bright future", Macedonian start turns into new markets this epoch-making attack transmission technology.

Intel help and promotion action

The recent Intel Developer Forum in autumn (IDF) announced, in addition to the next launch SandyBridge motherboard USB3.0 have been identified to be included in the reference design, the fourth quarter will be the mass production of Westmere board will also be built in USB3.0 independent host (host) control chip, which will help to accelerate the popularization of USB3.0.

Looking back on the development of USB2.0, we can find that USB2.0 technology has exceeded 80% in just 4 years since it was born in 2000. USB2.0 is able to rapidly spread in the market, the key lies in the rapid introduction of Intel USB2.0 South Bridge chips, and thus Intel's attitude is the key to the rapid explosion of USB3.0 business opportunities. USB3.0 has built-in CougarPoint chipset host controller of Intel early next year will launch a new processor equipped with SandyBridge, so that the industry complained. And at present, many host factories and notebook computer factories have listed USB3.0 as standard. At the same time, Intel's biggest rival, amd (AMD) also decided HudsON chipset USB3.0 launched in the second quarter of next year the controller, but also will cooperate with Renesas USB3.0 controller is introduced to the motherboard, the official comprehensive import USB3.0 interface. In this case, Intel's USB3.0 is to go back.

It is worth noting that, Intel launched optical fiber transmission interface LightPeak, because it has not yet completed specifications, the progress has been lagging behind, and fear will be postponed until the beginning of 2012 will be launched. LightPeak will use the same connector as USB3.0. Intel also said that LightPeak and USB3.0 will coexist in the future, will not be in a competitive state.

The chip market is on the rebound

USB will attract chip manufacturers change dynasties, rushing into the. Currently, the USB3.0 control chip market is divided into three major blocks, including the host side (Host) control chip, Hub (hub) and device side (Device) control chip.

The Japanese giant occupy the host chip mainstream, and FrescoLogic6 at the beginning of the month launched for the PCIExpressII transmission interface USB3.0 two host controller chip, and the distance closer to the Japanese manufacturers. China's Taiwan and the number of chip factory announced a massive rush in, including a Faraday IP authorized Koch, ASUS's xiangshuo, Wei Sheng, Wei Feng and eTron etc.. According to the current progress, Taiwan businessmen will soon be shipped in October after a small amount.

Hub is the focus of the development of USB3.0, it is an important bridge of Host and Device terminals, and it is also important for the development of both technologies. The market is still dominated by Japanese manufacturers.

In the device control chip, in addition to the traditional Japanese and American manufacturers, China Taiwan Chuangwei, Wangjiu, Anguo, qunlian etc. IC design companies have invested.

The market demand for device side controllers is single chip, low cost, small size, dual channel high read / write capability, and the most available types of flash memory available. Part of Taiwan businessmen began to switch strategy, the main flash related USB3.0Device control chip, from the most good U disk, USB3.0 control chip to start. Among them, yincan USB3.0 chip has been leading the new chip production, Wei Feng is also expected to launch in October. The industry said that the current market USB3.0U disk solution is the use of USB3.0-SATAII chip 1 SATA control chip plus the large volume, and other components and high cost, silver Chan and Wei Feng introduced a single chip solution can reduce the cost, and is easy to design.

However, the bridge with large demand for USB3.0 has become the most competitive battlefield. Japan's Fujitsu, the United States LucidPort has launched USB3.0-SATA bridge chip, FaradayElectronics and PLX will also launch their own USB3.0-SATA bridge chip. China Taiwan manufacturers include xiangshuo, yincan, Wei Feng, jmicron, Chuangwei also actively preparing for the. According to reports, the bridge chip is mainly used in external storage devices or optical drives, the future may occur in portable devices and hard disk players and other products.

Need to build a complete ecosystem

USB3.0, after all, is a completely new specification and faces many challenges. Creating a complete ecosystem is a top priority. From the Host side to the Hub, and then to the Device side, we need to consider everything. In the aspect of Host terminal control chip, USB3.0 control chip must use more advanced process to realize the transmission speed of ten times than USB2.0. Moreover, in addition to the complex specifications and the need for complete compatibility for USB1.0 and USB2.0, low power and smart power management requirements are also required. Manufacturers should be cautious hand.

The hub links, because the initial USB3.0 device is not too much, not too many ports, plus if the port number words, power consumption will be high, compatibility is difficult to design, so the design is facing many challenges, especially the USB-IF compatibility test and the future use of the experience is an important part of.

USB3.0Device control chip development is relatively easy, but now facing a "hundred schools of thought contend"