COSCUP 2020 Taipei ‘Chinese Shanzhai Open source Hardware, what and how making and hacking the manufacturing model?’
Abstract
Well known Chinese style copycat called SHANZHAI (山寨), and Chinese original style open source hardware model called GONGKAI (公開) named by bunnie are still living. Now Shanzhai engineer and entrepreneurs are helping to Chinese tech giant such as Xiaomi, Oppo and hacking AI robot.
I try to explain about that, Where Shanzhai come from? Investigate them ecosystem and value in modern IoT development?
They Shanzhai hacked What? How they hacked the Manufactualing?
If you find a product in TAOBAO, you can get them PCBA design like download from Github. And if you release a new product in TAOBAO, somebody sends pull request for you like to customize an offer, you can choose
1. Sell PCBA
2. Customized by yourself
3. Somebody makes a copycat by your product.
Shanzhai is a Chinese style, innovation model.
History of Origin
In 1990, when China starts to develop, not manufacturing, some Chinese SoC distributors find new business model. If the distributor SoC on the PCBA by chipset reference design, that a better sales than only source. Many Chinese developers didn`t have enough skill to use SoC, but they can make cell phone from the PCBA. They are the origin of Shanzhai, small but freedom unskilled developer make funny cell phone like Phone with the shaver. Few thousand Shanzhai PCBA companies in Shanghai, Xiamen, and Shenzhen. Shanghai and Xiamen are most of SoC company like Qualcomm, MediaTek, Intel, Shenzhen is the most of cellphone company.
Glow and distilled
A few thousand small company distilled to few tech giants, like Oppo, VIVO, Huawei and so on. Now over half of world top 10 smartphone company are located in Shenzhen. Shenzhen also reformed, City of Shanzhai to Chinese Silicon Valley.
Shanzhai distributor also changed the name, they called IDH (Independent Design House) now. Current IDH is a huge company like Xiaomi, one IDH hired few thousand engineers.
Today`s Shanzhai Business model
Why Apple make only high-end smartphone, only one or two model in each year? Why Xiaomi and Oppo, and other Chinese company make Low, Middle, High totally 10 new smartphone release each 3 months? Their developer team is smaller than Apple.One reason is Shanzhai.
Many Chinese tech giants, they outsourced the design of the smartphone to IDH. Middle and low spec smartphone`s are not designed by Xiaomi. Xiaomi in-house designer focus only top-end model.
Example, Famous IDH Wiingtech design 83 million smartphone in 2017. And Chinese tech giants still use IDH. 80% Xiaomi`s smartphones design that outsourced by IDH, also Lenovo` 70%, TCL:25%, Meizu:95%, Huawei:38%…
Why they can outsource, but Apple cannot?
Middle and Low spec smartphone is another market, like Africa and Asia. They prefer cost affordable, but also need good smart phone. And every Middle and Low spec smartphone gets better day by day by Moore`s law. That means if the company can quick time to market new tech (nearly new SoC), that can make a profit. This is the market for Chinese Shanzhai ecosystem, by tech giant and IDH.
Modern Shanzhai not any pirate to the patients, but them ecosystem still make profit for the company in China.
Other style Shanzhai Business
Many factories make, new product by themselves. That means many innovations born in there. The current Chinese company sells an original product, they also sold only PCBA. This is the example company called City easy made communication robot, that robot small succeed in the market, and City easy also sell only PCBA.
Why Cityeasy sell PCBA for copycat? In fact, Cityeasy robot is made by Smartspeaker + Balancewheeler + Tablet, they compile commodity technology, and make complicated product. Cityeasy access other hardware design resource by PCBA, and Rip, Mix, Burn, then made them Original product.
Each commodity technology is under Moore`s law. They showed them idea to profit ASAP. That is the reason why Cityeasy running two sales channels, PCBA for B2B and product for B2C.
This is the backstage, why many new hardware products came from quickly from Shenhzen.
Conclusion
Chinese ShanZhai IP sharing system is transformed.
Current ShenZhai became more regal and distilled for IoT (Internet of Things) product.
IDH and Shared IP are fit for Mass customization. The current modern development board is also Open Source Hardware.
That means We should consider how share more, how pushes the open source movement in our Society.
Reference
差別化を諦めた｢垂直分裂｣のバリューチェーンで実現した異端のものづくり――現代中国・イノベーションの最前線 — Kouta Takaguchi
https://gemba-pi.jp/post-179927
ハードウェアのシリコンバレー深圳に学ぶ -Junichi Fujioka book 2016
Interview with Chinese entrepreneur for Kickstarter and Chinese copycat
https://medium.com/shenzhen-high-tour-by-makers/shanzhai-b9b718f6158a
Why Shenzhen is amazing in the maker movement — TAKASU Masakazu
https://www.slideshare.net/takasu/why-shenzhen-is-amazing-in-maker-movement
The Hardware Hacker — bunnie Huang book 2017
https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=4297
The $12 “Gongkai” Phone -bunnie
