In recent years, smart cars and autonomous driving technology have developed rapidly, and according to market research agencies, the global smart car market is growing rapidly and is expected to exceed $1.5 trillion by 2025. The Chinese market is also in a period of rapid growth, with the size of China's smart car market reaching about 215.2 billion yuan in 2024, with an average annual compound growth rate of 29% in the past five years, and is expected to reach 282.2 billion yuan in 2025. The global autonomous driving market size will be about $158.3 billion in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 29.97%, and is expected to grow to $273.8 billion in 2025. China's autonomous driving market is also developing rapidly, with a market size of 330.1 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 14.1%, and is expected to approach 450 billion yuan in 2025.
In terms of technological development, the development of key technologies such as artificial intelligence, sensors, and communications has promoted the intelligent process of intelligent vehicles. The comprehensive intelligence and enhanced interactive functions of the intelligent cockpit have become an important factor in attracting consumers; On the other hand, the classification of autonomous driving technology is gradually becoming clearer, L2 assisted driving has been mass-produced, L3 technology may usher in an inflection point in market penetration from 2025 to 2027, and L4 technology will be commercialized in limited scenarios, such as Baidu Apollo and Waymo in the field of Robotaxi. At the perception level, the cost of lidar has decreased, and 4D millimeter-wave radar has begun to be applied. In terms of decision-making algorithms, BEV perception + Transformer models improve environmental understanding.
In response to the growing demand for computing power for automotive chips, Samsung Electronics has recently joined hands with industry leaders such as Infineon and NXP to jointly promote the research and development of next-generation automotive semiconductor solutions and accelerate the layout of the high-performance automotive chip market. It is reported that with the development of the trend of intelligent and electrified vehicles, the market size is expected to continue to expand, and it is expected that by 2026-2028, the launch of overseas pure electric vehicle parity models will further promote the market growth. At present, the global automotive chip market is basically monopolized by international semiconductor giants, with the top five manufacturers accounting for nearly 50%. Among them, Infineon has the highest share with a market share of 12.7 percent, followed by NXP, Renesas, Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics.
Figure: Samsung will work with automotive chipmakers to develop next-generation automotive semiconductor technology (Source: Trendforce)
Samsung is leveraging its technology accumulation in the field of memory and processors, gradually introducing advanced process technologies originally used in mobile devices into automotive electronics manufacturing, and promoting the evolution of automotive-grade chips to higher integration and stronger performance. The collaboration focuses on a number of key technologies: first, the creation of automotive-grade high-performance processors based on the 5nm process to improve computing efficiency and processing speed; The second is to realize the co-optimization design of memory and processor in the early stage of chip design to further improve the stability and overall performance of system operation. The third is to enhance the reliability of the chip in extreme temperature environments, while enhancing its real-time processing capabilities and data security.
It is reported that these new chips will integrate more efficient neural processing units (NPUs) to better execute algorithms related to autonomous driving. In addition, Samsung is actively promoting the high integration of system-on-chips (SoCs), which can achieve a smaller, lower power consumption total solution by combining multiple functions into a single chip, meeting the stringent space and energy efficiency requirements of automotive electronics.
Industry analysts pointed out that with in-depth cooperation with professional automotive semiconductor manufacturers, Samsung is expected to win a larger share in the rapidly expanding automotive electronics market. With the increasing trend of electrification, intelligence, and networking, the automotive chip market is expected to continue to expand at a compound annual growth rate of more than 15% in the next five years. With its strong technology integration capabilities and ecosystem cooperation network, Samsung is gradually expanding from the traditional consumer electronics field to the smart car field, providing OEMs with more comprehensive and competitive electronic system solutions.
