Qualcomm, Samsung expand foundry deal

LONDON — Qualcomm Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. have extended their foundry partnership and the Korean company will start making the latest generation CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and W-CDMA (Wideband CDMA) wireless chipsets for Qualcomm.

The chipsets will be produced using 90-nanometer process technology, with sub 90-nm nodes being employed in the future, the companies said.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, nor were there any details over the timing of tape-out or the additional wafer starts involved.

"Our foundry agreement with Samsung will provide an additional source of supply and assist us in our strategy aimed to ensure capacity to support existing and anticipated business growth in both CDMA and WCDMA markets," said Sanjay Sha, president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, in a statement.

The Korean market is a large and growing one for Qualcomm’s devices, and Samsung uses some of the San Diego, California-based company’s chips in its mobile handsets.