US chip designer Qualcomm Inc yesterday said it would use its own central processing units in its high-end quad-core chipsets for smartphones to differentiate itself from its rivals’ quad-core products.
For chipsets used in entry-level smartphones, or handsets with a price tag of below 1,000 yuan (US$160), Qualcomm said it would use licensed microprocessors from other companies, such as ARM Holdings PLC.
Qualcomm’s comments came after Taiwanese chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科), its biggest rival in China, unveiled its quad-core chipsets for smartphones and tablets on Wednesday. MediaTek expects customers to launch smartphones using its quad-core chipsets next quarter.
“When quad-core chipsets become popular, those chipsets will be very similar to each other,” James Shen (沈勁), vice president of Qualcomm’s Greater China area, told reporters in Taipei.
“Consumers, in fact, are not concerned about what kind of chipsets [are used in their phones]. Instead, they are more concerned about which brands are used in those electronics [products], and they are more concerned about the overall performance of the chipsets,” he said.
In China, a growing number of small chipmakers also plan to roll out quad-core chipsets next year, Shen said, adding that most of them manufacture chips for white-box handsets and tablets.
Those companies include Fuzhou Rockchips Electronics Co (瑞芯), he said.
Qualcomm’s quad-core chipsets are used in HTC Corp’s (宏達電) Buttferfly smartphone, Samsung’s Galaxy Note II and Asustek Computer Inc’s (華碩電腦) Padfone 2.
However, quad-core chipsets do not necessarily offer better performance or longer battery life than dual-core chipsets, Shen said.
Qualcomm’s new dual-core MSM8x30, for Chinese clients, are two or three times better than the quad-core chipsets made by its competitors, he added.
China’s Huawei Technologies (華為) used the MSM8x30 in its latest smartphone and more handsets using this chipset are likely to hit the market by the Lunar New Year holiday, Shen said.
Qualcomm offers Qualcomm reference design (QRD) services for its Chinese customers only. At the moment, about 60 Chinese mobile phone makers have joined the QRD program, 47 of which have launched 100 products and have another 100 products in design, Qualcomm said.
Qualcomm plans to provide QRD services for quad-core MSM8x26 chipsets for Chinese clients early next year.
Shen said China is one of the fastest-growing emerging markets, with 3G handsets accounting for only 27 percent of the market.
Citing figures from iSuppli, Shen said China ships 700 million mobile phones a year.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
A move by US President Donald Trump to slap a 25 percent tariff on all steel imports is expected to place Taiwan-made steel, which already has a 25 percent tariff, on an equal footing, the Taiwan Steel & Iron Industries Association said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, association chairman Hwang Chien-chih (黃建智) said such an equal footing is expected to boost Taiwan’s competitive edge against other countries in the US market, describing the tariffs as "positive" for Taiwanese steel exporters. On Monday, Trump signed two executive orders imposing the new metal tariffs on imported steel and aluminum with no exceptions and exemptions, effective
RSS