Why BIOS and BMC Are the Hidden Engines Driving Modern Computing

Introduction

BIOS, as the core firmware of the "信创" industry chain, is the first program activated after power‑on, responsible for hardware detection, access and hand‑off to the operating system.

1. Core components: BIOS and BMC

1.1 What is BIOS?

BIOS (Basic Input Output System) is a ROM‑stored, immutable boot program that performs POST and system start‑up. It controls basic functions such as boot device order, keyboard, floppy, memory and other devices.

Table 1. Main BIOS programs and functions

1.2 What are BMC and IPMI?

BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) and IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) form the basic management subsystem of servers, handling hardware status, OS management, health monitoring and power management.

BMC is a small independent OS on a chip, exposing a standard RJ45 port with its own IP address. IPMI is a set of management standards defined by Intel, HP, Dell and NEC in 1998, enabling remote monitoring of temperature, voltage, fan status, power, and logging.

Figure 1. IPMI logical diagram

1.3 What are EFI and UEFI?

EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) was introduced by Intel to replace the 16‑bit BIOS for 32/64‑bit processors.

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is the standardized version of EFI, now the mainstream firmware for most platforms. It performs POST, OS hand‑off and provides a uniform hardware‑OS interface.

1. UEFI BIOS is written in C, enabling cross‑architecture support. 2. UEFI includes security features that reduce firmware attack surface. 3. Legacy BIOS is assembly‑based, hard to port.

2. BIOS/BMC industry chain

CPU is the upstream of the chain; BIOS/BMC vendors need CPU vendor specifications to develop firmware. The four global X86 BIOS vendors are AMI, Phoenix, Insyde, and China’s Baiao (under Zhuoyi Information).

Downstream are PC and server OEMs such as Inspur, Huawei, Lenovo, etc.

Figure 2. BIOS/BMC industry chain overview

3. Market size

Based on Gartner 2019 data, X86 server shipments were 12.5 million units and PC shipments 261 million units. Assuming a BIOS/BMC price of ¥300 per server and ¥15 per PC, the firmware market in China is roughly ¥76 billion, with additional IoT firmware pushing the global market above ¥100 billion.

Figure 3. Domestic X86 server shipments

4. Major BIOS companies

4.1 AMI

American Megatrends Inc., founded in 1985, provides UEFI BIOS, EC controllers, MegaRAC remote management, and diagnostic tools. Its latest UEFI BIOS is Aptio V, supporting both X86 and non‑X86 platforms.

Figure 5. AMI BIOS/UEFI product lineup

4.2 Phoenix

Founded in 1979, Phoenix pioneered BIOS technology, went public in 1988, and later faced financial difficulties, being acquired in 2010. It exited the Chinese market in 2009.

Figure 6. Phoenix stock performance (1988‑2009)

4.3 Insyde

Insyde (系微) entered the BIOS market in 1998, focusing on UEFI. Its flagship H2O BIOS generated NT$7.81 billion revenue in 2018, with a 87.5 % R&D staff ratio.

Figure 8. Insyde revenue and profit

4.4 Zhuoyi Information (Easytec)

Zhuoyi Information (688258.SH) owns Baiao, the only Chinese X86 BIOS vendor authorized by Intel. It also develops firmware for ARM, MIPS and Alpha architectures, serving both domestic and overseas PC/server markets.

Table 2. BIOS/BMC application cases

5. Risks and outlook

The BIOS/BMC market is an oligopoly dominated by AMI, Phoenix, Insyde and Zhuoyi. Zhuoyi’s exclusive Intel authorization gives it a rare advantage in mainland China, and its multi‑architecture capabilities position it to benefit from the growing "信创" ecosystem.