Write in front: ultrasonic sensor is an important branch of sensor, accounting for a large proportion in the sensor industry, and has a very broad development prospect in the future. As one of our series of intelligent reports, this report focuses on the breakdown of sensors – several core concerns of ultrasonic sensors.
Thinking 1: what is ultrasonic sensor? What types of products are there? Ultrasound was first defined in 1922 and has been widely used in various industries since the 20th century. Ultrasonic sensors can be divided according to the classification basis such as detection mode, use environment, material and structure. They have a wide variety and are now widely used in automotive electronics, smart home, smart instruments, consumer electronics and other fields.
Thinking 2: horizontal and vertical comparison, what are the advantages and disadvantages of ultrasonic sensors? Ultrasonic sensor is not affected by light conditions, object color, dust and dirt, high humidity environment and other factors. Compared with reflective optics, it shows obvious advantages in many aspects, but it also has disadvantages that it can not work in vacuum or underwater, and its accuracy is greatly affected by object material and ambient temperature. In the automotive electronics industry, ultrasonic radar has low cost and good performance. It is the best choice for short-range ranging, but its ability in long-range detection is poor. In contrast, millimeter wave radar has advantages in speed measurement and ranging ability and adaptability to rain, snow and haze, while lidar has great advantages in spatial resolution, static object recognition, speed measurement and ranging ability. According to the data of toubao Research Institute, by the end of 2018, the penetration rate of ultrasonic radar in China’s automobile industry had reached 80%, while the penetration rate of millimeter wave radar and lidar were 18% and 1% respectively.
Thinking 3: multidimensional exploration, what is the Growth Logic of ultrasonic sensor industry? In terms of market scale, the scale of China’s sensor industry will reach 251 billion and the scale of ultrasonic radar will exceed 30 billion in 2020. Ultrasonic sensors will account for about 6% of the global industrial intelligent sensor market in 2020. From the perspective of downstream demand: (1) automotive electronics: ADAS penetration is not high, and there is still a large potential market space for intelligent driving. According to Roland Berger’s prediction, the market scale of the whole vehicle end of automatic driving in the world will expand to about 500 billion US dollars in 2030, in which the subdivided fields such as chip, sensor and software algorithm will become the main growth point; (2) In the field of intelligent instruments: with the demand of regular rotation of old water meters and modernization of smart pipe network brought about by China’s “stepped water price”, “one meter for one household” system and six-year compulsory verification, it is expected that the penetration rate of intelligent water meters in China will be close to 45% and the market scale will exceed 17 billion yuan in 2020. (3) Smart home: according to cshia data, China will become the world’s largest consumer of smart home market, accounting for 50% – 60% of the global smart home market. In 2020, the scale of China’s smart home market will reach 514.47 billion yuan.
Thinking 4: from the perspective of the company, what do you think of the supply side and competition pattern of the ultrasonic sensor industry? From the perspective of competition pattern: international suppliers such as Bosch, Valeo, Murata production and nisera occupy the main markets in the field of ultrasonic sensing, and Chinese suppliers such as Audi Wei and Shangfu are also accumulating strength; From the perspective of business: (1) business model: both Audi Wei and Shangfu take independent production as the main production mode and direct sales as the main sales mode; (2) Product classification: Audi Wei is a leader in China’s ultrasonic field, with strong strength in three fields: ultrasonic radar sensing system, on-board image monitoring system and millimeter wave radar detection system; (3) Customer profile: most foreign enterprises are head suppliers, and the customer sources of Chinese enterprises cover both at home and abroad. Audi Wei’s customers cover Tongzhi electronics, Farida, Yiai electronics, haoen automobile, Haier Smart Home Co.Ltd(600690) and other companies. Shangfu has established cooperative relations with Hongqi, SAIC, FAW Volkswagen, Byd Company Limited(002594) and other automobile brands in the field of ultrasonic radar sensing system; (4) Technical strength: foreign enterprises have maintained a leading position in the number of patents. As of June 2021, Audi Weihe and Shangfu have 33 and 15 invention patents respectively (Shangfu has 11 overseas patents), and the R & D expense rate is about 7% in 2020; Finance: the total revenue of foreign enterprises is generally higher than that of state-owned enterprises. In 2020, the total revenue of Shangfu shares and Audi Wei reached 200 million yuan.
Risk warning: the development of the industry is not as expected; Industry profitability declined.
