Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 454 Everything is Possible
Under the guarantee of Zhiyun Group's supply chain team led by Gu Zhiming and with the cooperation of hundreds of other suppliers, the production capacity of intelligent robots in Zhiyun Group can continue to grow.

From an annual output of less than 200,000 units at the beginning of last year, it has soared to nearly 700,000 or 800,000 units now. At the same time, it is continuing to expand production and strives to reach a production capacity of 1.5 million units next year.

With such sufficient production capacity, Zhiyun Group can talk about looking forward to the future of the robotics business, rather than just the current situation where the revenue seems to be not low, but the cost is huge, resulting in very low gross profit, not to mention net profit.

With a business worth tens of billions of dollars, the net profit in a year is only tens of billions of dollars. It would be easy to be laughed at if you tell others about it... After all, this is Zhiyun Group, and their products are famous for their high premium and extremely high gross profit margin.

But in the field of robotics, this feature is broken.

As a result, a large number of suppliers are now following Zhiyun Group and continuing to hold on... Now, let alone making money, we have to thank God for not losing money.

Xu Shenxue was also very clear about these situations, and he was even the one who promoted them personally... If he didn't do this, the cost of the robots would be too high and they wouldn't be sold at all. The early market cultivation would be too slow and too difficult.

Millions of intelligent robots, no matter how good they are, are just toys that only a few rich people can afford. They don’t have much significance and cannot support a large enough market.

The price of intelligent robots must be brought down so that they can enter thousands of households and become helpers in the life and work of ordinary middle-income families, and become a large consumer product that families must buy, just like cars and houses.

Only in this way can we support a huge market worth hundreds of billions of dollars or even trillions of dollars in the future... and this kind of market is what Zhiyun Group is pursuing.

In order to maintain low costs and continuous technological progress, Xu Shenxue sometimes comes forward to appease some supply chain manufacturers, and when necessary, he also provides some technical, financial and other support to supply chain manufacturers.

Today’s intelligent robot supply chain manufacturers are not having a good time: the pressure of technology research and development is too great...

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Compared with the huge future potential of the intelligent robot business and the many difficulties it currently faces, the situation of AI glasses, namely Yun AIG, is much simpler.

Since the official launch of the product at the press conference, Yun AIG has quickly attracted the attention of the global technology industry and even ordinary people.

A large number of Yun AIG promotional videos have appeared on many short video platforms, among which the translation function is used as the main promotional function. Other functions will also be promoted, but due to the lack of certain practicality, the promotional effect is only average.

However, even so, Yun AIG quickly sparked a global discussion on AI glasses, which in turn converted into early orders.

In early January, Yun AIG was launched worldwide except in the United States, with sales reaching 500,000 units on the same day and exceeding 1.5 million units within a week.

Although this sales volume cannot be regarded as regular sales volume, it still proves the huge market potential of this product.

Yun AIG's early users were actually various technology bloggers, technology enthusiasts, loyal users of Zhiyun Group products, and some people with translation needs.

There are actually very few ordinary users... After all, for ordinary people, this thing is just a novelty, but if they really have to spend four or five thousand yuan to buy it, they will still be reluctant to do so, after all, AI glasses are different from mobile phones.

Mobile phones are necessities, and as for AI glasses, their ecological positioning is somewhat similar to that of smart watches. Some people need them, but most people don’t.

Taking into account the originality of the product, coupled with the needs of some niche groups, and the huge brand appeal of Zhiyun Group.

The forecast data given by many third-party analysis agencies is that Yun AIG's first-year sales are expected to reach about 8 million units, and next year's sales are expected to grow to about 12 million units. In the long run, its sales are expected to reach about 20 million units in the future.

When industry insiders see this sales forecast, they can tell that it is largely based on the sales data of Zhiyun Group's other smart terminal ecosystem products.

Especially smart watches which are also wearable smart devices.

Since Zhiyun Group's smart watches were launched on the market, sales have gradually increased, from 10 million units at the beginning to 15 million, and then to 18 million units last year. This year, some people predict that Zhiyun Group's smart watch business is expected to reach sales of 20 million units, becoming the industry leader.

Its sales volume far exceeds that of smart watches from Apple, Samsung and WeCool Electronics.

That’s right, there is also a Weiku Electronics here!
Unlike the smart watches of Zhiyun, Fruit and Sixin that are positioned in sports, technology and fashion, the smart watches of Weiku Electronics are mainly aimed at the children and youth market, focusing on children's safety and children's social interaction. It is a children's watch.

Although the average price is low and the profit is also lower, since it is targeted at the underage market from the beginning, it has already formed a certain wave among children and teenagers in China... Primary school students also have the need to add friends for socializing, and when mobile phones cannot be used, smart watches become a substitute.

If a classmate wants to add you as a watch friend, don’t you have to buy a children’s watch from Weiku Electronics? Then, when they see other children have it, they will want one too… So it’s easy for a situation like this to happen: after a classmate in the class buys and uses a children’s watch from Weiku Electronics, it will often lead to a large number of children in the class wanting this kind of watch as well. After their parents buy it, most of the children in the class are using the same watch.

For parents, this kind of children's watch can conduct two-way conversations with mobile phones and check location and other safety functions on the mobile phone, which is also very suitable.

Parents buy children's watches for their children's safety; children want the watches to chat with friends and follow trends...

This product positioning directly meets the dual needs of parents and children, thus leading to considerable sales.

The selling price is just a little low, so the profit is not high…if the price is too high, parents from ordinary families cannot afford it.

After all, most families are ordinary families with limited income and a tight life. It is not a big problem to spend a few hundred yuan to buy this thing, but it would be difficult to spend several thousand yuan.

Despite the low unit price and low profit, the gross profit margin is not low. Children's watch products are considered to be relatively successful products in Weiku Electronics' smart ecosystem business, and their ability to make money is much stronger than their smart TVs, laptops, tablets and the like.

Although Weiku Electronics has all kinds of smart terminal products, many of them don’t sell well.

For example, the business notebook series was launched very early, and it is even considered a major computer brand in the second tier in the domestic market. When people buy ultra-thin notebooks, the first option is the Zhiyun notebook, and the second option is to choose from traditional computer manufacturers and brands such as V-Cool and Sixing.

However, sales have been tepid, with annual sales hovering around one million units. Moreover, because of its cost-effectiveness and high hardware configuration, it has brought decent sales, but also resulted in very low gross profit...

I was busy from beginning to end of the year. It seemed that I sold a lot of computers, but I didn’t make much money. In the end, I could only console myself by saying that this was for the purpose of building and improving the Weiku smart ecosystem!
However, the inconspicuous children's smart watch business has brought considerable revenue to Weiku Electronics.

These are the smartwatch markets.

As a similar wearable smart device, many investors and analysts will inevitably refer to the market situation of smart watches when analyzing the AI ​​glasses market.

Therefore, many investors and analysts have predicted that the sales volume will be 8 million units in the first year, a little over 10 million units in the second year, and it is expected to reach a scale of about 20 million units in the future.

This result is considered good for Zhiyun Group. It was able to sell several million units in the first year, generating billions of dollars in revenue, and the gross profit was also good.

It has little impact on the overall situation of Zhiyun Group and is listed in the "other smart terminal products" category when revenue statistics are calculated.

But this is the case for Zhiyun Group, a large company with annual revenue of more than 400 billion US dollars.

If any other company could generate billions of dollars in revenue in the first year, it would be a super hit.

Therefore, AI glasses quickly attracted a large number of high-tech manufacturers and even small workshops to follow suit.

Who makes this thing special? If you say it has high technical content, it is indeed high, but its main technical content lies in the Yun AI artificial intelligence interface and chip it is equipped with.

Unfortunately, Zhiyun Group provides both of these core technologies to the outside world... All companies and even individual users can pay to purchase Yun AI's API interface.

Capable companies can also deploy GTAI2 on their own and connect it to AI glasses. GTAI2 is open source, so any company can use it!
As for chips, its LC1 lightweight computing chip and the W805 chip provided for the wearable market in the early days are also supplied to the outside world.

To put it bluntly, Zhiyun Group has already prepared the most difficult parts of the two technologies for the majority of enterprises. All these enterprises need to do is to optimize and design the operating system, work on the ecological content, and then do other hardware design parts.

Although it is technically difficult to make other software and hardware parts well, no one says that they have to be as good as Yun AIG of Zhiyun Group. It is not impossible to use AR glasses by making some modifications.

Look, less than a month has passed, and more than a dozen so-called AI glasses have appeared on the Huaqiangnan market.

Basically, they just take the previous AR glasses, build in a Yun AI interface and use them!

You know what, this sells very well.

After all, they are cheap!
Yun AIG is very expensive. A pair of glasses alone costs four or five thousand yuan. If you want to pair it with a micro portable host, you will need to pay another two thousand yuan. Many people cannot afford this price, but they still want to experience the feeling of AI glasses.

Then these AI glasses in Huaqiang South Market become a good choice. The prices range from a few hundred yuan to more than a thousand yuan, which are cheap and affordable.

As for the display module...not many people can tell the difference anyway.

Anyway, they are all AI glasses, equipped with Yun AI, and some even say that theirs is diffraction optical waveguide technology... but they will not say that theirs is monochromatic diffraction optical waveguide.

Anyway, the propaganda is that only "diffraction optical waveguide" technology is used. Zhiyun Yun AIG uses diffraction optical waveguide, and mine also uses diffraction optical waveguide.

As for the specific technical details, they won't mention them, and most consumers don't understand them either...

Many people don’t even know that Yun AIG’s display module is “MicroLED plus full-color diffraction light waveguide technology.”

Regardless, the newly emerged AI glasses from Huaqiangnan have really caused a stir… Because they were launched very timely, they got the most lucrative share and made a lot of money. When other small workshops saw this, they couldn’t stand it anymore: We are all small manufacturers in Huaqiangnan, if they can do it, so can I…

So everyone followed suit.

But not all of them make AI glasses. Some people have higher vision and more flexible brains!
This is old-fashioned. AR glasses, which originally had no market, have a built-in Yun AI interface and are transformed into AI glasses. Can other smart terminals do the same?
For example, if a Bluetooth headset is equipped with voice control, can it also be called an AI headset?

For example, smart watches, smart bracelets, smart rings and other products in the field of sports and health, if they are equipped with voice control and connected to Yun AI, can they also be called AI products?

Even if it is artificial intelligence glasses, it is not necessary to have Yun AI, chips, and algorithms built into the glasses... They can be used as displays connected to Bluetooth, and other functions can be stored in the mobile phone. The technical difficulty of this is very low, and any small workshop can do it.

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Everything can be AI!

This is a very interesting feature of the Huaqiang South market recently!

Strictly speaking, it is not a recent phenomenon. In fact, some so-called AI products equipped with the Yun AI interface have appeared since the second half of last year, but they have not yet formed a trend.

What really caused a wave was the launch of Yun AIG by Zhiyun Group, which ignited the artificial intelligence glasses market and then extended to other artificial intelligence terminal products.

Therefore, in the past month, many stalls in Huaqiangnan have transformed themselves into businesses mainly selling various artificial intelligence products.

There are so many hardware products claiming to be AI that it’s shocking to see them all... Of course, in reality, these things are pretty useless.

Currently, the only relatively reliable product in the artificial intelligence terminal hardware market is artificial intelligence glasses.

After all, Zhiyun Group has already set the example, and the market wave has already started. All they have to do is follow behind and get a sip of the soup.

The above are the practices of some small and medium-sized enterprises, especially those that have been in the Huaqiangnan market for many years.

However, the approaches of many large enterprises are different.

Naturally, they also attach great importance to the application of artificial intelligence, but they cannot be like those small companies that sell dog meat under the guise of sheep meat and simply add voice control and call themselves artificial intelligence products. They still have some aspirations.

Artificial intelligence terminal products are the latest trend, and no matter whether they will succeed in the end, we must jump in now.

It’s just that different companies have made different changes based on their own positioning and core products.

Weiku Electronics, the world's fourth largest smart terminal manufacturer, soon announced that they are developing a groundbreaking pair of artificial intelligence glasses, which are expected to use top-level chips, top-level display technology, first-class performance and be equipped with top-level artificial intelligence models. It will be available to the public in half a year at the latest.

To put it simply, it means purchasing MicroLED screens from Huaxing Technology, and then ordering monochrome diffraction optical waveguide hardware from domestic supply chain manufacturers. As for the full-color diffraction optical waveguide, this is Zhiyun Group's exclusive technology and is not yet supplied to the outside world. Even if Weiku Electronics is a sister manufacturer, it cannot obtain it.

Then Weiku Electronics contacted Zhiyun Semiconductor to order LC1 chips, got some batteries, assembled other miscellaneous hardware, and then connected it to the Yun AI interface, and the thing was done!

It’s actually quite simple to say!

Soon after, Dami, a first-tier smart terminal manufacturer, also quickly announced their artificial intelligence glasses plan... The approach may not be exactly the same as that of Weiku Electronics, but it is basically the same, and even the suppliers are the same.

Some insiders in the industry were speechless after seeing the plans of the two companies. By then, the artificial intelligence glasses products produced by the two companies will probably only be different in appearance and logos...all other core things will be exactly the same.

In addition, Huawei, which has also been gradually making efforts in the field of smart ecology in recent years but pays more attention to the development of mid-to-high-end products, has also announced its own artificial intelligence glasses plan, but their plan is more in-depth. They plan to develop many core technologies by themselves or work with suppliers, including chips and full-color optical waveguide technology. At the same time, they also plan to adopt the GTAI2 artificial intelligence large model they deployed by themselves.

But if you do this, it will be difficult to produce a product.

But they have to do it no matter how difficult it is. After all, their main competitive advantage is some self-developed key technologies. Although they are far inferior to Zhiyun Group in the field of technology, they are still the second in the country. They still have the confidence to engage in self-research.

Especially in the field of chip design, they have accumulated a lot of experience and their technology is still very good. Many of their mobile phones use self-developed SOC chips and communication basebands.

They are even trying to develop server GPU computing chips, but this is more difficult and it is not easy for them to make it in a short time.

But as long as the design problem is solved, you can use it yourself even if the ecosystem is not good... Zhiyun Group's computing chips are sold too unfairly. The APO4600 graphics card that costs more than yuan is sold for yuan!
If Warwick can develop its own computing power cards, it will be able to save a lot of money in future artificial intelligence training and deployment.

Moreover, since we develop our own chips, we don’t have to worry about being blocked from foundry business... There is a Zhiyun Microelectronics in China. Although the wafer factory is also a subsidiary of Zhiyun Group, it has always abided by business rules, and its foundry business is often open to global customers.

Its customers are spread all over the world. Even AMD is one of Zhiyun Microelectronics' customers, and Warwick is one of Zhiyun Microelectronics' core customers for its foundry business.

All of Huawei's previous generations of mobile phone SOC chips and communication baseband chips are produced by Zhiyun Microelectronics.

Basically, among the scarce production capacity of Zhiyun Microelectronics' advanced processes, in addition to meeting the group's own advanced chips, Huawei ranks second in the limited sequence.

For example, the production capacity of Zhiyun Microelectronics is very scarce for the current most advanced technology, which is equivalent to the 803-nanometer process. In the early stage, it mainly meets the production needs of the S chip for the group's own use.

However, starting from January, as the sales of S series mobile phones gradually stabilized and the demand for chips gradually slowed down, Zhiyun Microelectronics has begun to produce small batches of W1006 chips for Zhiyun Semiconductor to export exclusively to Weiku Electronics, Xiaomi, OV, LG and other customers.

At the same time, it also manufactures their self-developed flagship chips for Warwick.

Its progress will not be slower than that of Qualcomm's equivalent 830-nanometer chip , which was manufactured by Samsung.

If nothing unexpected happens, starting this spring, new Android flagship models will be launched one after another, equipped with Zhiyun Semiconductor's W1006 chip, Qualcomm's 830 chip, or Warwick's chips of the same level, and will be put on the market for sale.

The peak period is expected to be this autumn... The reason is very simple. In the autumn, Zhiyun Microelectronics' equivalent ten-nanometer process production capacity will be greatly reduced due to the S803 chip production, which will free up enough production capacity for the production of W1006 and Huawei's self-developed chips.

The production capacity of the equivalent 830-nanometer process of Sixing is expected to be gradually increased from the current small-scale trial production stage, and upgraded to a relatively large capacity in May and June, and finally meet the demand for Snapdragon chips and Sixing's self-developed chips.

However, by that time, Zhiyun's and Fruit's phones had already started using chips with an equivalent seven-nanometer process.

Currently, Zhiyun Microelectronics and TSMC next door are working hard to solve the yield and production capacity issues of the equivalent seven-nanometer process.

To be more specific, Zhiyun Microelectronics is far ahead of TSMC in the technological advancement of the equivalent seven-nanometer process.

In terms of the technical certification time for the equivalent seven-nanometer process, Zhiyun Microelectronics is at least three months ahead of TSMC, and this three-month time gap is not so easy to narrow.

According to the timetable announced by both parties, Zhiyun Microelectronics will be able to deliver S903 chips in large quantities by May at the latest. These chips will be used in the production of the new generation of S18 series mobile phones, allowing the S18 series mobile phones to be successfully launched and put on the market in August as expected.

As for TSMC, due to the delayed progress, a large group of technical personnel have recently entered a crazy overtime mode to ensure that the fruit company's new product launch conference in September will not be delayed.

The competition between the two sides in the equivalent 7-nanometer process is quite fierce. It has to be fierce, because this will affect the sales of both sides' flagship products.

Zhiyun Group wants to continue to suppress Apple and further squeeze the living space of Apple phones in other overseas markets. Apple does not dare to sit idly by and is struggling to defend and even fight back.

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Amid the dramatic upheavals in the field of artificial intelligence and fierce competition in chip technology, other fields have attracted less attention.

Zhiyun Group actually held a new product launch conference in January, releasing a new generation of CPU chips and a new generation of Yun Book, but these were the results of normal upgrades and did not cause much waves.

Even the 18 model of Yun Book looks no different from the previous 17 model... and the performance of the CPU chip has not improved much either, because the series of CPU products launched by Zhiyun Group this year still use the nm process, and the performance has improved, but not much.

On the one hand, the production capacity of the equivalent 12-nanometer process is tight. On the other hand, the main competitors in the CPU field, Intel and AMD, are still at the 14/ process nodes and are not using the equivalent -nanometer process.

Since all competitors have given up, Zhiyun Group will naturally not spend huge costs to develop a CPU chip with an equivalent 10-nanometer process that is destined to be a transitional process... The cost-effectiveness is too low and there is no need for it.

Therefore, the release of the CPU products and the new Yun Book this year did not cause much waves...but this did not affect the sales of Yun Book.

Yun Book has now developed into a world-class business notebook brand. Many people buy Zhiyun's 13-inch and 14-inch notebooks not for performance or cost-effectiveness... but for brand, quality workmanship, portability, long battery life, stylish appearance and other factors.

As long as the performance remains at a mainstream level, Zhiyun Group's Yun Book13/14 will not have to worry about sales... Of course, due to the limited capacity of the large market, it will be difficult to significantly increase sales.

Zhiyun Group's PC products, like its mobile phones, tablets, and smart watches, have entered a relatively stable period... To put it bluntly, Zhiyun Group's traditional smart terminal business has basically reached its ceiling. The main focus in the future will not be on continuing to break through sales, but on stabilizing sales.

The traditional smart terminal business has reached its ceiling, and the traditional semiconductor business has almost reached its ceiling as well.

This is also the reason why Zhiyun Group has been working hard to make breakthroughs in the field of artificial intelligence in the past two years, and then develop robots and computing chips...

Seeking new revenue and profit growth points!
(End of this chapter)