Who Will Win the Automotive Connectivity Chip Race?
Pete Singer
23 hours ago
Ariel Sobelman, VP of Corporate Alliances at Valens
A high-stakes race is unfolding within the global automotive industry – one that could define the future of autonomous vehicles for years to come. This isn’t a contest between legacy automakers and emerging startups. It’s not about market share, geographic dominance, or the transition from internal combustion to electric power. The real race, often overlooked, is about something far more critical: which technology will reliably connect the ADAS systems that will steer the vehicles of tomorrow.
At the heart of this race is a fundamental challenge: how to move massive amounts of sensor data, from cameras, radars, or lidars, from one end of the vehicle to another. Modern ADAS systems rely on high-resolution cameras and other sensors mounted throughout the car, which output MIPI CSI-2 – a notoriously short-distance interface. The brains of the operation, the ECUs, are often positioned far away, tucked in more protected zones.
This is where Serializer/Deserializer (SerDes) chipsets come into play, adapting the short-range CSI-2 signal for transmission across the vehicle and then reconstructing it at the other end. The technology behind that link is now a critical piece of the ADAS puzzle – and a key battleground in the race to autonomous driving.
For years, legacy solutions like Texas Instruments’ FPD-Link and Analog Devices’ GMSL have done the job well. These proprietary SerDes technologies enabled automakers to extend sensor data across the vehicle, meeting the reliability and robustness standards needed for early ADAS applications. But this was when ADAS systems were primitive – cameras that offered low resolution, low frame rate, few bits per pixel.
But that era is over. Today, the push toward higher levels of autonomy – from advanced driver-assistance to full self-driving – is raising the bar across the board. Leading OEMs like Tesla, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz, are building vehicles that rely on multi-gigapixel sensor fusion, combining high-resolution cameras, radar, and lidar with AI-driven perception systems. These platforms demand ultra-high bandwidth; state-of-the-art ADAS systems on the road today, such as Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) hardware, Waymo’s autonomous fleet, already reach multi-gig link speeds, and these bandwidth requirements are rising fast.
The result is a data explosion that legacy SerDes architectures weren’t designed to handle.
Enter: Standardization
Recognizing the growing gap between proprietary extension solutions and the demands of automotive systems, the MIPI Alliance – the creators of the original MIPI CSI-2 camera interface – stepped in to develop a standardized solution tailored for long-distance, high-bandwidth sensor connectivity: MIPI A-PHY. A-PHY is a physical layer specification designed specifically to extend high bandwidth CSI-2 signals over long distances inside vehicles while maintaining unprecedented signal integrity. The standard supports data rates up to 32 Gbps per lane, and is the cornerstone of the MIPI Automotive SerDes Solutions (MASS) suite that ensures interoperability with established MIPI interface standards like CSI-2 and D-PHY.
A key advantage of adopting a standardized solution is the presence of multiple silicon vendors, fostering a competitive ecosystem. This diversity drives innovation, reduces development costs, and mitigates supply chain risks by avoiding dependence on a single proprietary technology. More than seven vendors of A-PHY silicon have already gone public with their offerings.
Importantly, a standard like MIPI A-PHY allows camera vendors to integrate the connectivity solution inside the sensor, leading to smaller, lower cost, lower form factor cameras. Sensor integration is a key selling point of A-PHY, and two camera vendors, Sony and OmniVision, have already that they are working on this sort of direct integration.
A-PHY surely has a leg up on the competition. But of course, it’s still anyone’s race.
Enter: ASA-Motion Link and Open GMSL
Since the advent of A-PHY, another standard entered the race: The Automotive SerDes Alliance (ASA) with its Motion-Link technology. This standard is being promoted by a group of companies that lost in their bid to make their technology form the basis of A-PHY. Nevertheless, Motion-Link offers some of the benefits of A-PHY – the ability for sensor integration and high bandwidth, while compromising on immunity to electromagnetic interferences (EMI).
Recognizing the threat of MIPI A-PHY, Analog Devices also recently announced the advent of “Open GMSL.” This initiative aimed to provide a more flexible and interoperable version of their proprietary GMSL technology, allowing for the kind of sensor integration enabled by standards like MIPI A-PHY. However, despite these improvements, Open GMSL still relies on analog-based SerDes technology that constrains bandwidth scalability.
The China case study
The global automotive industry is notoriously conservative, relatively slow to adopt new technologies. China, however, bucks this trend. The country has emerged as one of the earliest and most enthusiastic adopters of MIPI A-PHY, with several Chinese semiconductor companies, including Analogix, ESWIN Technology, Motorcomm, OmniVision, Silergy, SimChip, and VelinkTech, actively developing and offering A-PHY compliant silicon solutions.
This early adoption reflects China’s broader strategy to reduce reliance on proprietary technologies and foreign suppliers, fostering a more open, interoperable automotive ecosystem. That urgency has only accelerated in recent years due to escalating geopolitical tensions and trade barriers – most notably the tariffs imposed under the Trump administration. These measures targeted a wide array of Chinese goods, including electronics and automotive components, and served as a wake-up call for the industry.
For Chinese automakers and semiconductor companies, the tariffs highlighted the vulnerability of depending on imported, proprietary technologies – especially from US suppliers. In response, there has been a concerted effort to localize key components of the automotive supply chain. Adopting open, international standards like MIPI A-PHY not only reduces exposure to geopolitical risk but also empowers domestic vendors to innovate and compete globally. In this context, A-PHY is more than just a technical solution – it’s part of a broader strategy for technological self-sufficiency and long-term resilience in China’s automotive sector.
A-PHY’s global momentum
It’s not just in China, but globally, where MIPI A-PHY is gaining momentum. Earlier this year, A-PHY received a strong endorsement from Mobileye, which called the technology “efficient and robust,” announcing plans to “broaden the MIPI A-PHY ecosystem and deliver this technology to more market-leading automakers.”
But of course, in the global race for automotive connectivity, nobody wins until someone crosses the finish line. With the new arrival of Open GMSL and the feisty ASA Motion-Link still making noise, the race is still wide open.
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