Patrick, all, LSI (and DSP Communications) completing supplier deals to sell CDMA chips to Korean phone manufacturers.
eet.com
Chip vendors take on Qualcomm in
Korea
By B.H. Seo
EE Times
(09/08/99, 4:15 p.m. EDT)
SEOUL, South Korea?Chip makers are gearing up to take on
market leader Qualcomm Inc. here after concluding agreements
to supply code-division multiple-access (CDMA) chip sets to
domestic mobile phone manufacturers.
While acknowledging that San Diego-based Qualcomm remains
far ahead in the race to supply CDMA chip sets to the Korean
market, Korean manufacturers here said they have reason for
optimism after completing supplier deals with CDMA chip set
makers DSP Communications Inc. ( Cupertino, Calif.) and LSI
Logic Corp. (Milpitas, Calif.).
Industry sources said the U.S. companies are talking with mobile
phone manufacturers here to supply their chip sets. The deals
mean Korean phone manufacturers could save millions by
switching suppliers from Qualcomm, which holds key patents on
CDMA technology, to other U.S. chip set makers like DSP and
LSI Logic.
"The supply price is lower than Qualcomm by 20 to 30 percent,
and domestic mobile phone manufacturers want to be out from
under its shadow," an industry source said.
Agreements inked
DSP announced last year it would supply CDMA chip sets to SK
Teletech. It recently completed agreements to supply its chip,
which supports IS-95C and CDMA 2000 standards, to a handful
of domestic phone makers. Arnon Kohavi, senior vice president
for strategic relations, declined to identify the three new Korean
customers, but confirmed the design wins and said DSP will
begin delivering its CDMA chip sets as early as the end of the
year.
"We position ourselves as an alternative to Qualcomm," Kohavi
said, adding that DSP thus far supplies about 1 million chip sets
to Japanese and Korean customers. Kohavi said the firm not only
wants to enter the Korean market but is seeking long-term
relationships with Korean mobile phone makers when they sell
products oversees.
DSP Communications established a design center in San Diego
last year to develop CDMA-based solutions for the IMT-2000
third-generation wireless phone market. LSI Logic has also
developed cooperative relationships with Korean and Japanese
mobile phone makers.
As these companies seek to make inroads in the Korean market,
others are said to be preparing to enter the CDMA competition
here. Samsung Electronics Co., Motorola Inc., Philips
Electronics' VLSI Technology unit and others are also said by
industry sources to be in various stages of CDMA chip-set
development. Samsung Electronics said in April it had
completed development of a CDMA chip set that includes a
mobile station modem (MSM), a baseband analog processor and
general-use operating system software for CDMA handsets.
However, some observers expressed doubts that these new
entrants to the market could develop adequate CDMA solutions
anytime soon.
For its part, Qualcomm said it welcomes the competition in
Korea. "As the CDMA pie continues to grow, there will be more
competition," said company spokeswoman Anita Hix. She
stressed, however, that Qualcomm has delivered more than 50
million MSMs and is several generations ahead of its
competitors in South Korea.Exclusive to EE Times by Chom Dan
Inc. (Seoul). |
