Wei Jianli of Ingenic Group: Challenges facing IoT chips

The Internet of Things is considered to be the third wave of development of the world's information industry after computers and the Internet. For consumers, the most intuitive feeling is the networking of smart hardware products in their lives. There has also been a wave of Internet of Things products in China. The emergence of these devices in large numbers in a short period of time is inseparable from the driving force behind them - chips.

Beijing Ingenic Group Circuit Co., Ltd. is such an Internet chip company. At the 2016 China Smart Home Expo Smart Hardware Developer Conference, Wei Jianli, product director of Ingenic Group Circuit Co., Ltd., explained to us the challenges faced by the Internet of Things industry from the perspective of chip manufacturers.

Perception and computational level

"Sensors need to collect data and then perform calculations to extract valuable data. This involves chip-level technology. Both sensor technology and SOC technology currently face challenges."

Human-computer interaction

"The implementation of service content needs to be realized through products, which involves the issue of human-computer interaction." Wei Jianli explained, "For example, when making products such as smart watches and smart glasses, the display screen and voice control all face great challenges."

The trade-off between cost and performance

"The contradiction between performance and cost is the biggest contradiction faced by chip manufacturers," Wei Jianli told us. Users will definitely want the chip to have stronger functions and lower costs. What we are considering is how to solve this contradiction from the chip level."

Market fragmentation is serious

"The Internet of Things is not like traditional mobile phones and tablets. The product forms are diverse. How can we make chips meet the needs of different products? This is the problem we encounter. Chip companies cannot just stop at chips, but also provide a whole solution based on chips."

Lack of a reasonable business model

"Everyone thinks that it is not feasible to make money just by selling equipment. We want to make money through services. We give equipment to customers and make money through services and content. However, this model is still a problem for Chinese users to accept it. Whether we are a chip company or a product company, we will face this pain point."

Where there are challenges, there are also opportunities. So how does Ingenic deal with these challenges? Wei Jianli introduced some of Ingenic's chip solutions. At present, Ingenic has three major product lines, X series smart home and IoT, M series smart wearables and T series smart video.

Ingenic has always adhered to the route of controlling core technologies and independent research and development. In the future, Ingenic will be market-oriented and provide customers with excellent cost-effective chip solutions. At the same time, it will closely integrate the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to achieve win-win results with partners.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.