Interview with Bowin Qiu, CEO, Synochip Corporation

FB
Can you please provide our readers with a brief background of the company?

Synochip
Synochip was established in November 2005. It focuses on the total solution for fingerprint identification and information security by using its original creative technology. Synochip is not only the first company in the Chinese mainland to successfully launch fingerprint identification SOC chips, but also the only company that can provide fingerprint identification chips, computer security chips and electronic signature chips.
Synochip, eyeing the growth of the fingerprint identification and information security market, commits to providing professional and personalized total solutions and services for corporations, institutions and individuals. Our main business includes the design and marketing of fingerprint identification and information security chips, the customization of dedicated SOC chips and the development of related algorithm and total solutions. Synochip strives to become the world's leading provider of fingerprint identification and information security total solutions, while providing our clients with chip-level and algorithm-level support and services.
At the same time, we are willing and glad to build a fully cooperative and complementary industrial chain system with algorithm and software developers, sensor suppliers, module suppliers, OEM manufacturers and end-customers to co-promote biometrics in the information security industry.

FB
Can you please review your product line up?

Synochip
So far, our company has successfully launched two series of products, the PS series and the AS series, into the markets for fingerprint identification, information security, personal computers and consumer electronics.
PS1802 is a high performance DSP for the embedded fingerprint recognition field. It features 120MHz, 480MIPS; 156KB on-chip SRAM and power consumption less than 150mW @ 120MHz. The embedded image processing accelerator and powerful SoC greatly reduce the second-developing period and helps users to promote their personalized products to market within the shortest time. We have shipped around 10 million PS1802 pieces around the world.
The AS series uses the innovative "Cordis 5 +" 32 bit RISC processor core, which features a 5-stage pipeline and a specialized DSP instruction set. This series includes AS601, AS602 and AS603. AS601 is for computer security. The independent processor and memory inside carry out key pairs generation & storage, data encryption / decryption and fingerprint authentication.
AS602 is a high-performance and highly-integrated chip for data security and fingerprint recognition applications. AS603 is a multi-functional general-purpose 32-bit processor with strong data processing ability. Besides the commonly used DSP instructions such as cycle instruction with zero overhead and single-cycle multiply-add instruction, AS603 also has concurrent data stream instruction, large numbers multi-div instruction and convolution accelerator.

FB
Please review a recent success for our readers.

Synochip
In August 2009, Synochip successfully launched AS602, the dedicated IC for information security. AS602 is the first chip in world to incorporate fingerprint authentication and PKI certification together. Its abundant peripheral interfaces enable the easy functional expansion for USB keys such as with LCD or keyboards, greatly facilitating user checking account information so as to prevent malicious revising of the transaction information and eliminating sign cheating. The fingerprint authentication runs directly on-chip, enabling the easy upgrade from an ordinary Key to a fingerprint Key. Pin code input then is avoided and the possibility of interception is cut off, securing the process of human-computer interaction.
AS602 is mainly applied in USB Key/Token, digital certification, fingerprint Flash drive, etc. It has a very important role in the security of the financial industry. Our company has complete independent intellectual property rights for this chip. According to an authoritative data analysis, in just the financial industry alone, the demand for this kind of information security chip is greater than 10 million units… annually! So the market prospects are extremely good.

FB
Has this past year been a good one for SYNOCHIP?

Synochip
In the past year, our star product PS1802 maintained very good sales momentum. The average sales volume is nearly one million per month. The developing and testing of the AS series went smoothly and had quite a breakthrough. From the beginning of the economic crisis in Oct 2008, like many other domestic companies, our company experienced a transitional period with product sales being affected to a certain extent. On one hand, we changed our marketing strategy by opening up sales channels and establishing distributors in South Korea, Japan, the United States, Israel, Europe, etc. On the other hand, we increased the investment in research and development. The AS series products were put into market nearly six months in advance. Besides IC products, Synochip also commits to providing clients with total solutions. We have successfully developed many total solutions such as fingerprint door locks, fingerprint USB-KEYs, fingerprint access control, PC fingerprint applications, etc. which are welcome and widely accepted by the market and our clients.

FB
Where do you see the Biometric market moving to over the next 5 years?

Synochip
In the next five years, we feel that fingerprint will still be the main focus in biometrics market. At the same time, facial and palm print identification will grow fast. There will be a complementary and common development situation among fingerprints, face and palm print identification. The cost of standalone solutions (sensor + SOC) for fingerprint is expected to fall below 4 U.S. dollars. The maturity of fingerprint technology and the reduction in cost is sure to activate more applications areas. The fingerprint door locks, safes, luggage and other areas will develop and grow. In the access control and safe/cabinet market, we feel that about 40% of these products will soon incorporate biometrics. In addition, fingerprint will become increasingly popular in electronic signatures, remote login, file encryption & decryption and on-line payments. In the future, information security will be inseparable from the protection of fingerprint biometrics, which will be very positive for the fingerprint chip industry!

FB
What can we expect to see from SYNOCHIP in the near future?

Synochip
Synochip is the first company in the world to integrate fingerprint identification and information security into a single SOC. The AS602 is the first chip that has both fingerprint authentication and PKI certification. This innovative design accords with the industry’s developing trends and meets market demands. We are confident that it will be a market success very soon. While promoting the AS series, we will continue to invest in new product development to make our IC products more suitable for the market with better performance, higher integration and lower cost. I believe in the near future, you will see Synochip IC being widely used in applications like Internet banking, online payments, mobile payments, etc. Our target is to be the leader in the information security field by partnering with other companies in the industry.

Please visit: www.synochip.com