Yoshida in China: Key to LTE winners is China Mobile

China Mobile calls the shots

Depending on the heritage of each competitor’s modem business, the degree of support for legacy modems differ. For example, Spreadtrum, a leading TD-SCDMA modem chip supplier, is still working on its own WCDMA solution.
 
I asked Fujitsu if the new chip from the mobile joint venture will support TD-SCDMA. She responded, “No, not in the current generation chip we’ve just finished.” She added, however: “being compatible with global standards is our goal.”

For any chip company looking for a TD-LTE design win with China Mobile, support for TD-SCDMA is a must. China Mobile demands that every TD-LTE solution must offer true multi-standard, multi-frequency capability.

Once again, that’s precisly how Qualcomm is goingto win the battle since it is p to offer a TD-SCDMA/TD-LTE reference design.

As Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts, noted in his recent blog, “Qualcomm aims to be the first with a TD-SCDMA/TD-LTE solution which fits like a glove with China Mobile’s long-term plan.  This will be the company’s third generation Qualcomm Reference Design (QRD).”

Strauss said Qualcomm’s QRD solution will be a Snapdragon S4 plus MSM8930 platform featuring a dual-core processor based on its Krait architecture. It will support UMTS, CDMA, TC-SCDMA, TD- and FDD-LTE, providing solutions that can help all operators in China.
 
Around the first quarter of 2013, we’ll see the LTE baseband race begin in earnest. It will be fought not with power point presentations, but in the commercial, volume market.


Related stories:

• Yoshida in China: Spreadtrum girds for margin woes
• Marvell aims to be China chip leader
  
• Japan revives mobile chip joint venture
• Docomo kills LTE semiconductor JV
• Docomo, Fujitsu, Renesas: The triangle thickens