In the past, oximeter was rarely mentioned. Nowadays, on major e-commerce platforms, the oximeter products of well-known companies such as Yuyue Medical and Kangtai Medical are being snapped up.
For example, a finger-clip oximeter product from a well-known brand once cost less than 100 yuan, but now if you want to spend 299 yuan to buy a similar product, you may encounter shortages.
The oximeter is mainly composed of a light source part, ADC/DAC (analog/digital converter), MCU (microcontroller), display part and power supply part. The structure is not complicated. Regarding the shortage of blood oximeter, Electronic Innovation Network CEO Zhang Guobin told the reporter of "Daily Economic News": "The shortage is caused by the shortage of screens and (photosensitive) tubes."
For the shortage Regarding the specific reasons, the reporter subsequently called Yuyue Medical and Kangtai Medical, but neither of them gave a reply. They only said that they needed to consult the relevant production and operation departments.
Various finger-clip oximeter
Picture source: E-commerce platform screenshot
Oximeter has become a high-frequency word
Along with concerns about "silent hypoxia", oximeter became popular.
On December 21, Zhang Wenhong, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University and director of the National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, reminded in his speech that we should be wary of "silent hypoxia" in the elderly. Zhang Wenhong suggested that families with conditions can purchase them themselves, or neighborhood committees can distribute simple finger pulse oximeters to seniors over 80 years old.
Not only Zhang Wenhong, but also the official diagnosis and treatment plan of the National Health Commission also attaches great importance to oxygen saturation. On January 6, the National Health Commission released the "Diagnosis and Treatment Plan for Novel Coronavirus Infection (Trial Version 10)", in which the severe/critical early warning indicators show that adults should be alert to worsening of the condition if the following indicators change: hypoxemia or respiratory Distress progressively worsens; tissue oxygenation indicators (such as oxygen saturation and oxygenation index) worsen or lactic acid progressively increases, etc.
With the spread of the concept of "silent hypoxia", finger-clip oximeters quickly entered hot-selling mode, and the cycle from purchase to delivery also lengthened. A reporter from "Daily Economic News" placed an order for two Yuyue Medical oximeters on the afternoon of December 23, 2022, and received them on the evening of January 2 and the morning of January 3, 2023, which took 11 days to complete. and 12 days. At present, when a reporter places an order for this product on the same platform, it shows that it is not available in his area and that the product has been removed from the shelves.
With the shortage of finger-clip oximeters, many people have begun to use the blood oxygen measurement function in smart watches and bracelets as a substitute. However, there have been examples of using these products to "measure" blood oxygen on dolls, ham sausages, and fruits.
The accuracy of oxygen saturation monitoring is crucial. How should ordinary people choose monitoring tools?
As for how to monitor the health of those who have recovered at home, the article "Professor Zhang Wenhong explains the daily routine of Omikron prevention and control" previously published by the public account "Huashan Infection" gives the answer. The article explains that to monitor oxygen saturation, especially when there are high-risk patients at home, a finger-clip oximeter can be prepared. Under normal operation, please see a doctor when the oxygen saturation continues to be lower than 95%.
Picture source: Screenshot of the "Huashan Infection" public account article
How much does the main control chip cost?
At present, the shortage of antipyretics such as ibuprofen has been alleviated. Why are the products of mainstream oximeter manufacturers such as Yuyue Medical and Kangtai Medical still relatively tight? What part went wrong?
The blood oximeter is mainly composed of the light source part, ADC/DAC, MCU, display part and power supply part. Among them, the light source part senses analog signals. The ADC chip converts the analog signals into digital signals, and then the MCU chip performs calculation and analysis, and the display chip displays the values.
Although the oximeter has a simple structure, it undertakes medical-grade monitoring functions and has relatively high accuracy requirements. Zhang Guobin told reporters: "The reliability of medical-grade (blood oximeter) must be high." The reliability and accuracy lie in the selection of products such as MCU and high-precision ADC.
According to Zhang Guobin, among the medical-grade MCU chips, the best ones in China are GigaDevice and Xiaohua Semiconductor (formerly Huada Semiconductor MCU Department); high-precision ADC chip manufacturers mainly include Chip HiTech and Serip.
However, after dismantling three finger-clip oximeters, "Xinshixiang" found that Yuyue Medical and Kangtai Medical MCUs were mainly purchased from STMicroelectronics, Holtek Semiconductor, and Nuvoton Technology. Among them, the MCU of Yuyue YX303 uses STMicroelectronics' STM32F0 series (STM32F051C8T6); Yuyue YX102 uses Holtek Semiconductor's 8-bit microcontroller HT66F4550; Kangtai Medical CMS50D uses Nuvoton Technology's 32-bit ArmCortex-M0 microcontroller mini58TDE.
It can be seen that none of these three mainstream products use MCU products from mainland Chinese companies. Among them, STMicroelectronics is a well-known MCU manufacturer in Europe, while Holtek Semiconductor and Nuvoton Technology are well-known MCU manufacturers in Taiwan, China. According to data from Yunhan Core City, the unit price of STMicroelectronics’ STM32F051C8T6 is approximately 11.59 yuan.
JD.com shows that the prices of Yuyue YX303, Yuyue YX102, and Kangtai CMS50D are respectively 299 yuan (official flagship store price), 299 yuan (official flagship store price), and 128 yuan (self-operated flagship store). From the above disassembly, we can see that Yuyue YX303 and Kangtai CMS50D both use 32-bit MCU chips, while Yuyue YX102 uses 8-bit MCU chips.
In the secondary market, the trends of GigaDevice and Chipsea Technology have been relatively stable recently. From December 7 last year to January 6 this year, the range fluctuations of the two listed companies were up 0.73% and down 3.68% respectively. %, while Serip fell by 21.61%.
Where is the production bottleneck?
Regarding the shortage of oximeter, Zhang Guobin emphasized that the supply of MCU products will exceed demand in the second half of the year. Therefore, he believes that the key lies in the shortage of screens and photosensitive tubes (infrared tubes).
China is the world’s largest producer of LCD panels. Will there really be a shortage of screens? A reporter from "Daily Economic News" found that Qingyue Technology, which has just been listed, its main product in the medical and health field is PMOLED for oximeter. Its prospectus shows that PMOLED panels have a simple structure, easy manufacturing process, extremely fast response speed, and are widely used. Used in various medical and health products, such as oximeters, blood pressure monitors, etc.
Currently, Qingyue Technology’s products include 0.96-inch yellow and blue dual-color oximeter and 1.12-inch full-color screen products, which can display 2 to 3 types of information such as pulse rate and blood oxygen saturation. The dual-color or full-color display has improved Discrimination between different indicator data.
However, compared with mainstream OLED and LCD displays, PMOLED is a niche product. LCD is mostly suitable for large-screen fields such as televisions. OLED is widely used in smartphones due to its higher cost, while PMOLED is mainly used in other professional display fields such as medical health and home applications.
PMOLED production is mainly based on the 2.5-generation line (substrate size 370*470mm, the higher the generation line, the larger the screen substrate size, and the larger the screen size that can be cut), and its application is in the field of small-screen display Mainly, the average price of Qingyue Technology’s PMOLED products is around 10 yuan. In comparison, the mainstream LCD is the 8.5-generation line (substrate size 2200mm*2500mm); the mainstream AMOLED is the 6th-generation line (substrate size 1500mm*1850mm).
It is reported that Qingyue Technology owns the first large-scale PMOLED production line in mainland China. It ranked second in the world in terms of shipments in 2018 and ranked first in the world in terms of shipments in 2019 and 2020. It can be seen that Qingyue Technology is one of the few PMOLED manufacturers of oximeter display screens in China. The capacity utilization rates of its glass substrate 2.5 generation line (370mm*470mm) from January to June in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 were 101.06%, 110.64%, 105.32% and 100% respectively. Its PMOLED production and sales rates are 98.26%, 96.47%, 109.99%, and 90.70% respectively.
Image source: Screenshot of Qingyue Technology’s prospectus
This means that Qingyue Technology’s PMOLED capacity utilization and production and sales rates are at a high level, and it is difficult to increase product shipments on a large scale in the short term. larger. It is difficult for major manufacturers to increase production on a large scale in the short term for niche products with lower unit prices. This may be an important reason for the shortage of oximeter screens.
As for photosensitive tubes, the reporter has not yet found a listed company specializing in this field.
As to whether there is a shortage of raw materials for oximeter such as screens, photosensitive tubes, etc., the reporter called Yuyue Medical on the afternoon of January 6, and its staff said: "I may have to verify it. At present, the company The production and operation are normal, and reasonable product configuration will be carried out according to the specific situation."
The reporter called Kangtai Medical again, and its staff responded: "I still have to verify this issue with the relevant departments. We all properly plan our production capacity based on the order situation to meet market demand." Regarding whether the cost of upstream raw materials is rising, he said: "I'm not sure yet. This has to be verified with the relevant departments, because I have not received any other information. Department Feedback ”