Toshiba, Qualcomm, TI in Bond to Appease Customers
By Evan Koblentz
WirelessWeek - August 29, 2008
Toshiba is looking for ways to further expand its Mobile Strategic Initiative, first announced in January 2007 as a way to grow its share of the U.S. mobile chip market.
The original plan of Toshiba America’s Electronic Components division was to take 12 to 15 months launching new products to American handset manufacturers. The plan expanded into loose partnerships with rival chip builders Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, based on the handset company’s demands for tighter integration and lower prices.
So far Toshiba contributed technology for components such as NAND flash memory, display controllers, CMOS image sensors, and support for the MDDI and MIPI de facto industry standards for cell phone design, said Andrew Burt, vice president of the company’s imaging and communications marketing group.
Now, Toshiba is planning to participate in more interoperability tests and to co-develop more reference boards that combine all of the partners’ technology. “The interest level is very high, the acceptance is looking good for this cooperation,” Burt said. “So now we’re looking to discuss with the customer base what other chipsets or what other next-generation technology they want.”
“The trickiest demand they have is the price point. As a semiconductor manufacturer we think we can make almost anything,” Burt continued. Of sharing technology that closely with competitors, he noted, “It’s something we’ve had to work at getting used to.”
It’s possible Toshiba may consider bringing in even more partners and competitors because customers continue to find that agreeable, he added. |
