! 1. Release Milestone Qualcomm 5G new air interface and millimeter wave radio frequency module below 6GHz;
Set microgrid July 23 report (reporter to Viet Nam) Today, Qualcomm announced the world's first fully integrated 5G new air interface for smartphones and other mobile terminals (5G NR) below 6GHz RF and millimeter-wave modules, including QTM052 millimeter wave antenna the module series and QPM56xx 6GHz RF module series, can be used with snapdragon X50 5G modem from the modem to provide integrated multiple functions across the antenna and frequency band, and to support a compact package size suitable for mobile terminals.
Christie Anno Ammon, president of Qualcomm, today announced the first for smartphones and other mobile terminals 5G new commercial air interface module and millimeter wave antennas below 6GHz RF module is an important milestone in the mobile industry. Currently, such from Modem to RF and solutions across the millimeter wave and below 6 GHz are enabling mobile 5G networks and terminals, especially smartphones, to be ready for large-scale commercial support.
Help 5G scale commercial
Due to many technical and design challenges, millimeter-wave signals have not been used in mobile wireless communications to date. These challenges cover almost every aspect of terminal engineering, including materials, form factor, industrial design, thermal and radiated power regulatory requirements. In view of this, many people in the mobile industry believe that the application of millimeter waves in mobile terminals and networks is impractical and unrealizable.
With its deep accumulation in mobile communications and huge R&D investment in 5G technology, Qualcomm is making the application of millimeter wave signals a reality.
It is understood that the Qualcomm QTM052 millimeter wave antenna module released today can work with the Snapdragon X50 5G modem to form a complete system to cope with the huge challenges brought by millimeter waves. As a complete system, it can support advanced beamforming, beam Guidance and beam tracking techniques to significantly improve the coverage and reliability of millimeter-wave signals.
The system includes an integrated 5G new air interface transceiver, power management IC, RF front-end components and phased antenna array, and is available at 26.5-29.5GHz (n257) and full 27.5-28.35GHz (n261) and 37-40GHz ( N260) Supports up to 800MHz bandwidth in the millimeter wave band.
Importantly, the QTM052 module integrates all of these features into a compact package size that supports up to four QTM052 modules in a single smartphone.
According to Shen Lei, senior director of Qualcomm's product market, Qualcomm's QTM052 millimeter wave antenna module will keep the signal at the optimal transmission position, effectively dealing with the problem that the millimeter wave band is susceptible to interference. At the same time, the number of modules can be based on the OEM's own The selection of requirements effectively solves the problem that RF devices need to be purchased and integrated, as well as size, cost, power consumption, performance, etc., which greatly simplifies the terminal design process and accelerates the market launch process of 5G terminal products.
The millimeter wave is suitable for providing 5G coverage in dense urban areas and crowded indoor environments, while the extensive coverage of 5G new airspace will be achieved through the frequency band below 6GHz. In view of this, QPM56xx RF module series (including QPM5650, QPM5651, QDM5650 and QDM5652) It can help smart phones equipped with Snapdragon X50 5G modem to support 5G new air interface in the frequency band below 6GHz.
The QPM5650 and QPM5651 include an integrated 5G new air interface power amplifier (PA) / low noise amplifier (LNA) / switching and filtering subsystem. The QDM5650 and QDM5652 include an integrated 5G new air interface low noise amplifier / switch and filtering subsystem to support diversity And MIMO technology.
All four modules support integrated channel sounding reference signal (SRS) switching to provide optimal massive MIMO applications and support 3.3-4.2 GHz (n77), 3.3-3.8 GHz (n78) and 4.4-5.0 GHz ( N79) Bands below 6 GHz. These RF modules below 6 GHz provide a viable path for mobile terminal manufacturers to support 5G new air interface massive MIMO technology in mobile terminals.
According to the micro-grid reporter, Qualcomm is currently cooperating with vivo to jointly integrate 28 GHz millimeter wave antenna group and 6 GHz technology into commercial terminal devices. Shen Lei also said that Qualcomm's forward-looking investment in 5G can be The industry provides effective solutions.
Plus RF front-end business
According to data released by Qualcomm, the serviceable market will reach 150 billion US dollars in 2020, and the RF front-end will reach 20 billion US dollars, second only to the smartphone business. The RF front-end is regarded as a key growth area for the mobile industry in the future.
A wide range of RF front-end platform products include gallium arsenide (GaAs) power amplifiers (PAs), envelope trackers, multimode power amplifiers and modules, RF switches, independent and integrated filter modules, and coverage of cellular and other connections. Technical antenna tuner. Among them, power amplifier, filter and antenna are the main technologies of RF front-end.
In recent years, Qualcomm has continuously strengthened its own RF front-end core technology. In 2014, Blacksand acquired the PA market. In 2016, it established a joint venture with Japanese electronic component manufacturer TDK to enter the filter market and began to lay out the RF front-end technology in the 5G era. In February, Qualcomm introduced the new RF front-end solution RF360, which provides a complete solution from 'modem to antenna'.
Shen Lei said that Qualcomm can be the first to introduce 5G new air interface millimeter wave and RF module below 6GHz, thanks to the accumulation of RF in the field in recent years, compared with Skyworks, Qorvo and other competitors in this field, Qualcomm at baseband and The combination of RF, high integration, understanding of OEM needs and complete solutions have advantages.
Qualcomm's RF solution is gaining support from more manufacturers. At the Qualcomm China Technology Cooperation Summit held in January this year, Qualcomm signed an annual purchase order for RF front-end solutions with four mobile phone manufacturers such as Xiaomi, vivo, OPPO and Lenovo. In the next three years (2019-2021), four mobile phone manufacturers will purchase RF front-end components with a total value of not less than US$2 billion. Including Google, HTC, LG, Samsung and Sony, as well as Qualcomm in the future. The RF front-end business has signed a cooperation agreement. (Proofreading/Lechuan)
2. Unprecedented Qualcomm AI Core Dragon 720? or join the NPU neural network computing unit;
Set micro-network news (text / Xiaobei) This year, Qualcomm launched a new Snapdragon 700 series, which is positioned between the Snapdragon 600 series and the Snapdragon 800 series, 'inheriting' the advanced features of many 800 series. Cost competitiveness is an important measure for Qualcomm to maintain and stabilize its position in the middle and high-end processors. At the end of May this year, the first Snapdragon 700 series chip 710 came out. Now, there is a breaking news that the Snapdragon 720 can be used in an unprecedented case. The Qualcomm SoC's description, the chip has made significant changes in improving AI performance, will be added to the NPU neural network computing unit.
Unlike competitors such as HiSilicon, Qualcomm's AI capabilities are not derived from independent AI hardware units, such as NPUs, computing units, etc., but are integrated into the artificial intelligence engine (AIE) on the Snapdragon platform, through heterogeneous computing. In this way, different modules such as CPU/GPU/DSP are matched to each other, and the workload is arranged according to different application scenarios. In other words, the integrated solution emphasized by Snapdragon AI core is based on the Hexagon vector processor. , Adreno GPU and Kryo CPU .
It is worth noting that Adreno GPU has always been the advantage of Qualcomm processors. Industry insiders said that Qualcomm has been keeping its GPU architecture secret, and basically can not find specific technical specifications, on each generation of flagship mobile processor chips, Qualcomm Adreno's performance is better than Arm Mali series. This should be one of the important reasons for Qualcomm's integrated solution. After all, GPU plays an important role in AI computing. Foreign media said that so far, Snapdragon processors have passed Adreno GPU for machine learning management, its effect is very good, but it is slightly inferior to Huawei's solution (Kirin processor NPU solution).
AI computing with integrated or separate solutions has been the focus of debate in the industry. Qualcomm experts have said that the highly integrated AI architecture design can achieve a better balance in performance, power consumption and other aspects.
Now rumors that the Snapdragon 720 will join the NPU neural network computing unit. If the rumors are true, this will be a major change in Qualcomm's chip. It is not difficult to guess, given Qualcomm's leadership in the industry, the future separation plan is also expected Become the mainstream.
The news broke the news and did not disclose the specific specifications of the Snapdragon 720, but interestingly, there was a parameter exposure on the Snapdragon 730, which claimed to be manufactured using the Samsung 8nm LPP process (10nm upgrade), integrating two Kryo 4xx 2.3 GHz, six Kryo 4xx 1.8GHz CPU cores, and equipped with NPU 120 units.
From the model point of view, the Xiaolong 720 and the Xiaolong 730 will be the successors of the Xiaolong 710. Both the Xiaolong 720 and the Xiaolong 730 have mentioned the independent NPU unit. Qualcomm may be brewing an AI. The change of the program.
In addition, it is reported that at least three mobile phone manufacturers are currently developing the Snapdragon 720 model, of which Samsung is expected to win the first launch, and is a brand new Galaxy series. (Proofreading/Jimmy)
3. OV cuts, MediaTek Q3 is affected;
This year, the trend of the smartphone market is conservative. Adding OPPO, Vivo and other key customers to cut orders, the legal person estimates that MediaTek's third quarter revenue growth range may converge to less than 10%, which is about 10% more than the original conservative estimate. Weak, the peak season is not prosperous, the gross margin trend is flat.
MediaTek said yesterday (23) that it will release its operating outlook for the quarter at the next Tuesday (31st) law conference, which is currently not disclosed.
The gallium arsenide 3D sensing component factory slammed the news that the operation will decline in the third quarter at the law conference last week, raising doubts about the peak season effect of the mobile phone supply chain this year, not only stable yesterday, but also the lock-up of the gap. The price fell by more than 3%, and the final price fell by 8.5 yuan to close at 271.5 yuan. After the weight was restored, the band was low before the ex-dividend.
The three legal entities sold Super MediaTek for seven consecutive trading days. Among them, foreign capital sold more than 3,500 copies yesterday, and the number of single-day sales was the third largest since August 9 last year.
In the legal circle, the demand for smartphones in the third quarter did not seem strong, and the market saturation did not change much. As a result, MediaTek's third quarter peak momentum was further suppressed. This quarter's revenue growth may drop to 10%. Within, it is similar to the atmosphere of last year's busy season.
Coupled with the market competition and the frequent rise of the foundry, the legal person estimates that MediaTek's third quarter gross margin trend should be the same as last season.
Benefiting from the higher-than-expected revenue in June, MediaTek's second-quarter revenue returned to the 60 billion mark, reaching 60.481 billion yuan, with a quarterly growth rate of over 20%, surpassing the high financial standard and 4.1% over the same period last year. .
MediaTek originally estimated that the gross profit margin for the second quarter was 38% plus or minus 1.5 percentage points; in terms of the median value, it was slightly better than the previous quarter's financial test level; if the second quarter gross profit margin exceeded 38.4%, it would be five consecutive years. Quarter gross margin is up.
MediaTek is scheduled to hold a law conference on the 31st to announce the second quarter earnings report and the third quarter operating outlook. By then, the company's view on the third quarter will affect the mobile phone supply chain's operating and stock price performance this quarter.
From the point of view of the main product smart phone chip, MediaTek launched the new chips such as P60 and P22 in the first half of this year, and successfully obtained the OPPO, Vivo and other customers, and regained a lot of market share. This year's smart phone chip shipments It is expected to be better than last year's standard.
However, the recent market has repeatedly transmitted OPPO, Vivo's two mainland China's smart phone manufacturers have slowed down their cargo power. This year's full-year shipments may be slightly lower than last year, which has caused the growth benefits from Huawei and Xiaomi to be diluted, simultaneously dragging down MediaTek's operations. daily
4. MediaTek is facing a hard battle... Qualcomm cut prices to grab the market;
Qualcomm, the global leader in mobile phone chips, will continue to play the 'high-profile mid-price' strategy in the second half of the year. It will launch the Snapdragon 730 platform and adopt the Samsung 8-nanometer LPP (Low-Power Plus) process. The legal person believes that Qualcomm And MediaTek continued to fight fiercely on the price of mobile phone chips.
Qualcomm's platform is mainly divided into the highest-end Snapdragon 800 series, the middle and high-end 600 series, and the main low-end 400 and 200 series; among them, the 800 series locks the flagship models of various smart phone brand factories, and the client covers Samsung, Sony, Asus, Xiaomi and other customers.
However, Qualcomm first revealed in February this year that it will launch the latest 700 series, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) functions. In the first half of the year, it has taken the lead in launching the 710 using Samsung's 10nm LPE (Low-Power Early) process. The platform, the main appeal performance is 27% higher than 14 nanometers, and the power consumption is 40% less.
In the second half of this year, Qualcomm promoted the Snapdragon 730 platform and further used Samsung's 8-nanometer LPP process. The main performance is 10% higher than that of the LPE process, and the power consumption is reduced by 15%.
And Qualcomm's 700 series platform is the series of Heidel P60, P65, P70 and other products produced by MediaTek in TSC. In the first half of the year, both of them are still 1x processes. But in the second half, it is equal to 8 nanometers to 12 nanometers.
The legal person believes that Qualcomm has a decline in market share this year, so actively use the 'high-standard price' tactics, the results of the first half of the year is not obvious, the 730 platform of mass production in the fourth quarter has the opportunity to get more results, then , and MediaTek will fall into a bitter battle. Economic Daily 5. Qualcomm's acquisition of NXP will greet the finale. Can you pass multiple uncertainties?
Qualcomm's relevant person in charge exclusive to the first financial reporter said that this week is bound to be the finale, New York time on the 25th at night 11:59 is the contractual deadline for the acquisition, but also triggers the time of $2 billion in breakups.
Qualcomm's acquisition of NXP, which lasted more than 19 months, will usher in the finale on July 25th (July 26th, Beijing time). The anti-monopoly review of the Chinese territory will not be passed before the 25th. Qualcomm needs to pay NXP a $2 billion break-up fee to end the largest $40 billion M&A deal in the semiconductor industry's history.
The relevant person in charge of Qualcomm said to the First Financial Reporter that this week is bound to be the finale. 11:59 on the evening of the 25th, New York time is the contractual deadline for the acquisition, and it is also the time to trigger the $2 billion breakup. But now, Qualcomm has not received feedback from Chinese regulators.
'It is impossible to drag on, so it can't be explained to the shareholders, the cost is too high.' The person said, 'Generally, the company's external lawyers contact the General Administration, but there is no news yet.'
The relevant person in charge of the State Administration of Market Supervision of China also responded exclusively to the First Financial Reporter. It has not received any notice related to anti-monopoly. If there is relevant information, it will be released through the official website.
This protracted merger requires approval from nine major regulators around the world (US, EU, China, Korea, Japan, Russia, etc.), and only China's antitrust agencies have yet to make a decision.
However, at the most sensitive time point of this merger, it has hit Sino-US trade frictions and escalation, and its future direction, whether successful or not, will have a profound impact on the global industry. At the same time, the EU Antitrust regulators have also stepped up their allegations against Qualcomm.
More than 19 months of long standby
For Qualcomm, this strategy to acquire NXP's offer, in addition to the extraordinary standby, also triggered the chain effect of '螳螂 蝉, the oriole in the after'. Now, the merger finally ushered in the finale.
On July 19, local time, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said in an interview that Qualcomm is still waiting for Chinese regulators to approve their acquisition of NXP Semiconductors, if July 25 If the approval of the Chinese regulatory authorities is not available before, the transaction will be abandoned.
He said that if the acquisition of NXP fails, then Qualcomm will carry out a stock repurchase plan of 20 billion to 30 billion US dollars to boost the stock price. On July 20, Qualcomm extended its 30th offer to NXP, will take time Postponed until 5 pm, July 25, New York time.
'The transaction requires some financial operations, so the deadline for the offer and the deadline for the acquisition agreement will take a little time.' The Qualcomm-related person in charge explained to the First Financial Reporter.
Since November 6 last year, in just over four months, Qualcomm, the world's top three semiconductor companies, has experienced multiple hostile bids by the top ten Broadcom companies. The board of directors competes for the US Foreign Investment Committee. (CFIUS) Involved in the postponement of the reelection of the board of directors, US President Trump forcibly intervened in the suspension of the acquisition, from a fierce commercial battle between US listed companies, directly to the national security field.
Interestingly, however, Qualcomm is blocking the hostile takeover of Broadcom, and the other side is also resolutely acquiring NXP. The M&A deal is highly strategic and attractive to Qualcomm, and will not only enhance Qualcomm's leadership in 5G technology. Promote the diversification of Qualcomm's business and reduce its reliance on smartphones to enter the automotive and security industries, and strengthen its ability to resist hostile takeovers such as Broadcom.
Qualcomm's acquisition of NXP needs to be approved by nine countries and regions around the world. Qualcomm said in January this year that South Korea and the European Union approved the transaction. This means that only the Chinese antitrust agency has not made a decision.
In April of this year, after one year, the Ministry of Commerce of China disclosed for the first time the substantial progress of the centralized review of the merger of the mergers and acquisitions.
At that time, the spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce spoke to the First Financial News reporter that the Ministry of Commerce is reviewing the acquisition of NXP Semiconductors in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Anti-Monopoly Law. As the transaction will be in the industry. The far-reaching impact may be unfavorable for market competition. The investigating agency needs to spend a lot of time investigating forensics and analysis, and has already raised competitive attention with Qualcomm on this transaction, and negotiated with Qualcomm on how to eliminate the adverse effects of the transaction.
Gao Feng said that for the remedy plan that Qualcomm has already proposed, the preliminary test of the market test conducted by the investigation authority concluded that Qualcomm's solution is difficult to solve the relevant market competition. On April 16, Qualcomm applied for withdrawal of the declaration and has re-declared.
Full of multiple uncertainties
Many people in the industry expect that the first financial forecast, considering the current environment, no matter from which point of view, the merger will not be easy to pass. 'In this uncertain era, no one can say what the next step is. A person close to the Sino-US bilateral negotiations once sighed to the First Financial reporter.
At the same time, the impact of the transaction on China and the global market does require careful evaluation. The adoption of Qualcomm's NXP in the EU is also the result of a series of commitments and concessions from Qualcomm. A former senior at NXP's Dutch headquarters. People reminded the first financial reporter that if Qualcomm acquired NXP to be released, a giant company was born, and its driving force to reduce costs will inevitably generate higher bargaining power for upstream and downstream enterprises.
Qualcomm's series of commitments became a positive factor in the EU's anti-monopoly investigation. First, Qualcomm promised to continue to provide NXP's MIFARE technology and trademark licenses for the next 8 years. The license terms will at least not be worse than the current ones. MIFARE is a Technology used in ticketing or toll platforms. Qualcomm will guarantee the same level of interoperability for its chips and other companies' products in the next 8 years. Qualcomm will not acquire NXP's NFC standard essential patents and some NFC non-standards. Essential patents. These patents will be transferred to third parties, which will guarantee to provide Qualcomm with a royalty-free global patent license for the next three years. For Qualcomm's NXP non-standard essential patents, Qualcomm will not use this for other companies. Initiating a patent litigation will provide authorization in the form of a royalty-free fee.
In response to the above commitments made by Qualcomm, the European Commission said in the statement: 'We finally came to the conclusion that after Qualcomm made corresponding commitments, the deal no longer has competition concerns. However, the decision is conditional. Qualcomm must abide by all commitments. '
On July 19th, the EU Justice Department stated that it had sent another list of allegations to Qualcomm. Such documents usually take the preliminary conclusions of the regulatory body and explain the company's questions about the initial list of allegations. Represented: 'The additional statement of objections released today focuses on certain elements of the price-cost test adopted by the European Commission to assess the extent to which Qualcomm sells UMTS baseband chipsets at below cost. ' If convicted of a violation EU anti-monopoly rules, Qualcomm will face a fine of up to 10% of global turnover.