In the early hours of July 26, 2019, Apple announced that it had agreed to buy Intel's smartphone baseband business for $1 billion. Under the deal, Apple will receive 2,200 Intel employees, patents and IP related to 5G modems, and specialized equipment after the deal closes. After the acquisition, Apple will own 17,000 wireless technology patents, which will help it take greater initiative in the coming 5G era. It can also provide support for the industry to build differentiated products in the future.
Since the beginning of 2019, the global 5G baseband chip manufacturers have been surging, the 5G market structure is unpredictable, and the infighting among major chip manufacturers has become increasingly fierce.
April 2019 is a month of earth-shaking pattern of 5G baseband chips. In mid-April, several big things happened in 5G chips. First, the patent licensing dispute between Qualcomm and Apple has finally been settled. Second, Apple and Qualcomm re-signed a patent licensing agreement. Third, Intel pulled out of its 5G smartphone modem business, citing a lack of clear revenue lines.
Why is Intel pulling out of 5G at this point? For one thing, Intel's baseband chips have always been Apple's only customer, but to win orders from Apple, Intel is essentially offering "zero margin" services. On the other hand, the dispute between Apple and Qualcomm is also a guarantee for Intel to obtain Apple orders. At the same time of Apple and Qualcomm's settlement, this guarantee is weak. After all, the baseband chip quality of Intel and Qualcomm is obvious to all. Therefore, Intel officially announced the withdrawal of 5G mobile phone baseband chip field. Obviously, the combination of Apple and Qualcomm makes Intel's huge investment in 5G mobile phone baseband chip "waste". From this point of view, in contact with unisplink 5G baseband chip research and development agreement, Intel seems to have planned to exit 5G mobile baseband chip field.
Robert Swan, Intel's chief executive, said: "we are very excited about the opportunities for 5G and the cloud of networks, but in the smartphone modem business there is clearly no clear monetisation opportunity and good returns. 5G remains a strategic focus for Intel, and our team has developed a range of valuable wireless products and intellectual property. "We are evaluating options to realize the value we create, including opportunities for a variety of data-centric platforms and devices in the 5G world."
After Intel withdrew from the 5G baseband chip competition, there are only three foreign players of 5G phone baseband chip: Qualcomm of the United States, samsung of South Korea and Apple. So, so far, the three major foreign players 5G baseband chip situation?
Qualcomm's first 5G baseband chip, the Snapdragon X50, is now commercially available, and on February 20 this year launched its second generation 5G baseband chip, the Snapdragon X55 (Snapdragon X55). Commercial supplies of the snapdragon X55 are expected to start as soon as the end of this year. The main feature of the 5G baseband chip X55 launched this time is to cover all the main frequency bands from 5G to 2G multi-mode, supporting independent (SA) and non-independent (NSA) network deployment. In addition, the X55 is the world's first 5G baseband chip capable of 7Gbps, which means Qualcomm has the fastest 5G baseband chip in the world. Previously, the first generation X50 only supported a maximum download rate of 5Gbps. Currently, the X55 has no mobile terminal products for sale, and Qualcomm expects to launch its first X55 baseband 5G smartphone in 2020.
Samsung released its first 5G baseband chip, the Exynos Modem 5100, last year. Exynos Modem 5100 chip is manufactured by 10nm LPP process, supports Sub 6GHz low frequency and millimeter wave high frequency, and is compatible with 2G/3G/4G communication modes downward.
Judging from the current market pattern of 5G baseband chips in foreign countries, other 5G manufacturers will share the blue ocean of 5G baseband chips, excluding samsung which only does internal supply. And with Intel's exit, the United States is currently only Qualcomm in the lead. However, with Qualcomm's original market advantages and technical advantages, and the advantages of American manufacturers in the field of 5G rf devices, the United States will occupy half of the 5G field in the future.
Generally speaking, 5G is a qualitative change of the current new generation of information technology and a key point of scientific and technological competition among countries. It is of great significance to the country's scientific, technological and economic development.
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