小米发布首款自主设计芯片

China's Xiaomi has become the world's fourth smartphone maker to design its own processor, revealing its "Pinecone" chip yesterday aimed at breaking its reliance on foreign providers such as Qualcomm.

中国的小米(Xiaomi)已成为全球第四家自己设计处理器的智能手机制造商。昨日，该公司推出了其松果(Pinecone)芯片，力求打破对高通(Qualcomm)等国外供应商的依赖。

The handset maker is leading a wave of Chinese tech groups that are trying to follow Apple, Samsung and Huawei by creating their own internal intellectual property, rather than relying on external sources.

这家手机制造商正引领着一波中国科技集团追赶苹果(Apple)、三星(Samsung)和华为(Huawei)的浪潮，创建自主知识产权，而不是依赖外部资源。

"The ability to create its own chip sets is the pinnacle of achievement for any smartphone company. For Xiaomi, the move is an essential next step in our development," said Lei Jun, chief executive, at the launch.

小米首席执行官雷军在发布会上表示："芯片是手机科技的制高点，小米要成为伟大的公司，必须要掌握核心技术。"

Zhang Ziming of Analysys, a tech consultancy, said: "These Chinese firms want to break the monopoly on chip technology by foreign companies and take part more in upstream competition."

科技咨询公司易观国际(Analysys)的Zhang Ziming表示："这些中国企业想要打破外国公司对芯片技术的垄断，更多地参与到上游竞争中去。"

Like most other smartphone makers, Xiaomi had previously relied on Qualcomm to supply chips. But the US group's global dominance has led to complaints over how it charges smartphone companies to use its designs.

像其他大多数智能手机制造商一样，小米以前一直依靠高通提供芯片。但这家美国集团的全球主导地位，使外界对其收费让智能手机公司使用其设计的方式发出抱怨。

In December, the company was fined $854m by South Korea for abusing its market position and charging excessive fees. It is now facing two lawsuits over licensing fees, one from US regulators, as well as a $1bn case involving Apple .

去年12月，韩国政府以滥用市场地位和收费过高之由对高通罚款8.54亿美元。目前，高通正面临两起因专利使用费而起的诉讼案--其中一起来自美国监管机构，而另一起跟苹果有关，涉案金额为10亿美元。

"Designing chips in-house means that Chinese companies will suffer less from supply-chain disruptions. Xiaomi has previously had to delay the launch of its flagship phone because of problems with Qualcomm's chip set," said Ding Jie, analyst at tech research group Canalys.

"自主设计芯片意味着中国企业受到供应链中断的冲击将会更小。此前，由于高通芯片组出了一些问题，小米曾不得不推迟其旗舰手机的发布，"易观国际的分析师Ding Jie表示。

Xiaomi's chip ambitions date to October 2014, when it set up a subsidiary, Beijing Pinecone Electronics.

小米开发芯片的抱负可以追溯到2014年10月，当时小米成立了一家名为"北京松果电子有限公司"(Beijing Pinecone Electronics)的子公司。

China-based companies' share of chip designs in the global market roughly doubled to 11 per cent in the four years to 2015, while US-based companies have more than 60 per cent, according to Christopher Thomas of McKinsey.

麦肯锡(McKinsey)的克里斯托弗o托马斯(Christopher Thomas)表示，在截至2015年的4年里，中国企业在全球芯片设计市场的份额达到11%，大约提高了一倍，而美国企业的市场份额超过60%。