Qualcomm Powers 40% of China Mobile's TD-LTE Terminal Tender
Sina Tech, 12/17/12
An industry source revealed on December 17 that a total of 30 terminals won bids in China Mobile's (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) recently concluded TD-LTE terminals tender, 12 of them using Qualcomm chips, giving Qualcomm a 40% market share among winning terminals.
Nearly 10 TD-LTE chip-makers took part in the tender, but relatively few had winning bids. Sequans provides chips for four of the winning terminals; Chinese telecom equipment and terminal manufacturer Huawei semiconductor subsidiary HiSilicon, for three of the winning terminals. The remaining 11 terminals contain chips from ZTE Microelectronics Technology, a subsidiary of ZTE (0763.HK; 000063.SZ); Leadcore Technology, a subsidiary of Datang Telecom (600198.SH); wireless baseband chipset provider Spreadtrum Communications (Nasdaq: SPRD); Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company MediaTek (MTK); Shanghai Lightsurfing Information Technology; Altair; and Marvell, each accounting for only one or two terminals.
In its bid specifications, China Mobile required terminals to support five modes (TDD, FDD, TD-SCDMA, WCDMA, and GSM/GPRS/EDGE) and 10 spectrum brands, meaning that chipmakers and product designers were required to be familiar with all 2G and 3G specifications - an area of particular strength for Qualcomm.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "Rumor: China Mobile TD-LTE Terminal Module Bid Results Leaked" MD 11/20/12 issue.
Keywords: ZTE Microelectronics Lightsurfing China Mobile Leadcore Spreadtrum wireless Qualcomm HiSilicon Marvell MediaTek CHL Sequans TD-LTE 0941.HK Altair bidding handset chip procurement
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