Cellular Phone Powerhouse>(yesterdays news, but sounds&reads good)
Technology News
Qualcomm Will Use SiGe From
IBM For RF Chips
(02/09/99, 6:40 p.m. ET)
By Mark LaPedus, Semiconductor Business News
Cellular phone powerhouse Qualcomm has
expanded its thrust in the merchant chip
business, announcing major deals with
IBM's Microelectronics Division and Japan's
Matsushita Electronic Components.
At the Wireless '99 show in New Orleans, Qualcomm
announced it is the latest company to license IBM's
silicon germanium (SiGe) technology, while it separately
forged a deal to co-develop RF-based modules with
Matsushita.
San Diego-based Qualcomm also rolled out a new line
of baseband processors, RF chips, handsets, base
stations, and other products -- all based on CDMA
digital-cellular technology.
"Chip-level products continues to be a huge part of our
business," said Irwin Jacobs, chairman and CEO of
Qualcomm, at a press event at the Wireless '99 show.
"We will continue to be a major supplier of ASIC in
the industry.''
In fact, Qualcomm controls the lion's share of the
market for CDMA-based baseband processors, but it
is now getting some new competition in this arena from
DSP Communications, LSI Logic, PrairieComm, and
VLSI Technology.
"Competition is healthy for the industry," said Don
Schrock, president of Qualcomm's CDMA
Technologies Division, the company's semiconductor
arm. "But we are ahead of our competitors. We've
been [developing ASICs] for nine or 10 years."
Looking to beef up those efforts, Qualcomm has
expanded its alliance with IBM by licensing IBM's SiGe
technology. At present, IBM -- as well as Intel--
manufacture baseband processors on a foundry basis
for Qualcomm.
IBM has also licensed its SiGe technology to Harris,
National Semiconductor, Nortel, RF Micro Devices,
and others. After years of efforts to get SiGe
technology into commercial markets, the technology
appears ready to give gallium-arsenide (GaAs) a run for
the money in a number of high-speed IC applications.
Qualcomm's first products based on IBM's SiGe
technology include two RF chips -- the RFT3100
transmit and RFR3100 receive devices. Offered in
32-pin BCC plastic package, these devices will begin
sampling in the third quarter of 1999.
Qualcomm also forged a deal to co-develop multi-chip
module components for CDMA handsets with
Matsushita. All of Qualcomm's future components will
work in conjunction with its new baseband processor.
Dubbed the MSM3100, the baseband chip is built
around the ARM7 RISC chip core from Advanced
RISC Machines. The MSM3100, which provides up to
300 hours of standby time in terms of battery life, also
includes a 13-bit audio codec, a USB interface, and
other features.
This chip, offered in a 208-pin BGA package, will be
shipping by the third quarter of 1999.
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