Docomo kills LTE semiconductor JV

LONDON – NTT Docomo Inc. (Tokyo, Japan) has announced that it has cancelled an agreement to establish a joint venture fabless chip company to develop and sell ICs for mobile devices.

The plan, under development with Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited, NEC Corporation, Panasonic Mobile Communications Co., Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and announced in December 2011, was terminated because a consensus on the details of the joint venture company was not reached by the target deadline of the end of March.

As a result, Communication Platform Planning Co. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary that Docomo had established to prepare for the formation of the joint-venture company, will be liquidated in June, Docomo said.

When Docomo announced its plan, it said the joint venture would develop feature-rich chips with LTE and LTE-advanced modem functionality that would be sold to global markets, rather than just used for phones used for Docomo services.


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