On October 11, the Fair Trade Commission found Qualcomm to restrain fair competition by imposing unreasonable licensing mechanisms, supply of baseband chips, and exclusive transaction discounts to impose fines of up to 23.4 billion Taiwan dollars.
Two weeks later, ITRI confirmed that it received a verbal notification from Qualcomm and suspended 5G cooperation.
Last August, Qualcomm announced that it will work with ITRI and several domestic Netcom vendors to develop a small base station powered by the new 5G air interface technology.
ITRI will not only be able to get the key Qualcomm technology earlier, but also expedite the time-to-market of Taiwan's OEM and ODM manufacturers in small base stations and infrastructure equipment. More importantly, it will reverse Taiwan's past decline in communications standards and grab To be the first opportunity.
Liu Sitai, president of Qualcomm's Taiwan region, once said that through cooperation, Qualcomm not only plays a role as a chip and solution provider in Taiwan, but also international manufacturers can understand the technological strengths of Taiwan and further promote cooperation and cooperation through the platform.
However, this cooperation has stopped. Will Taiwan once again miss the 5G era in which all countries are active?
Talking about ITRI and Qualcomm> Merger Cases of "Double-Link" Should Pay More Attention
"It is a pause now, but we do not just cooperate with it (Qualcomm)," implies, Li Shiguang is not pessimistic.
Li Shiguang actually think, in addition to the suspension of ITRI and Qualcomm cooperation, but should pay close attention to communications chip maker Broadcom and Qualcomm mergers and acquisitions.
"The combined effect of these two issues on Taiwan is far greater than that of Qualcomm (suspension of cooperation)," he stressed.
Why? Because "dual links" really merged, "Single source (single source) problems will surely occur." Li Shiguang pointed out that it is impossible for international manufacturers to purchase from a single supplier and think from a Taiwan perspective. MediaTek Realtek and other domestic IC design houses are expected to benefit as the second supplier and seize the opportunity to enter the supply chain. However, we can not ignore the power of bargaining power. Therefore, "it is possible to have both good and bad effects." Li Shiguang said.
However, he stressed that in the past Taiwan mainly focused on the production of terminal equipment (mobile phones, tablet computers, etc.) and "never managed to cross the central office (that is, Telecommunications signal exchange, such as telecom operators' room. ") However, small base stations are expected to be the key to a breakthrough.
"It (small base station) is close to the central office, and the turnover is really small, but it is of great significance." To this end, Li Shiguang believes that Taiwan must work with manufacturers to obtain more and more key technologies from the antenna Since the terminal extends to the central office, in order to bring more growth momentum for the communications industry.
At present, Qualcomm's board of directors has formally denied Broadcom that Qualcomm's value is undervalued, however, Tuo Tuo Industrial Institute observed that with many successful mergers and acquisitions Broadcom, should continue to Qualcomm board of directors, important shareholders negotiations, but even though Qualcomm nodded, But also through the antitrust review of all countries, follow-up worthy of attention.
Speaking of future technological trends, Li Shiguang pointed out that AI (AI) and quantum computers are the key. "AI is almost impossible to ignore," and Taiwan still has advantages in terms of AI development. As for computing power surpassing Traditional computer limitations hit the Economist 's Quantum Computer in March this year. "I think it is too slow to do this software. I am afraid it is important to use the software first," said Li Shiguang.