Samsung has acquired UK chipmaker CSR's handset business

Handset giant Samsung has acquired UK chipmaker CSR’s handset technology development business in a deal worth $310m. The acquisition is part of Samsung’s “complete platform strategy”, according to analysts, as the Korean vendor looks to cut its dependency on external silicon suppliers.

Samsung will get its hands on the team and technology behind CSR’s connectivity technology and a “large proportion of the resources” related to the chipmaker’s handset location technology. As a result, 310 CSR employees – primarily research and development staff – will transfer to Samsung.

While Samsung will not gain ownership of CSR’s legacy handset connectivity and location products, which the UK firm will continue to sell, it will gain a license to use the chipmaker’s intellectual property on a royalty-free basis, as well as 21 patents from the firm. Those patents will also be licensed back to CSR, again on a royalty-free basis.

In addition, Samsung has agreed to purchase a 4.9 per cent stake in the remaining CSR business, for $34.4m. Following the completion of the transaction, CSR intends to return up to $285m to holders of its ordinary shares.

CSR said that although it believes its location and connectivity team and technology is cutting edge, its presence in the handset market is too small to compete with larger rivals. The firm added that the deal allows it to focus and invest on its key growth areas including indoor location and Bluetooth Smart, the second wave of Bluetooth technology.

“This transaction will accelerate our transformation into a higher gross margin platform company operating in attractive growth markets where we have a leading market position. As a result, we will be a more competitive, more differentiated and more profitable business,” said Joep van Beurden, CEO of CSR.

According to Sravan Kundojjala, senior analyst at research firm Strategy Analytics (SA), every major mobile chipset company is now pursuing a “complete platform strategy” in order to minimise the costs incurred by sourcing technologies from third parties. He explained that the acquisition spells bad news for Broadcom and Qualcomm, from whom Samsung currently sources connectivity chips.

“Samsung currently lacks technology pieces such as connectivity integrated circuits (ICs), such as WLAN, Bluetooth, NFC, GPS and FM radio. It sources such ICs from Broadcom and Qualcomm,” explained Kundojjala. “CSR’s mobile division acquisition fills this connectivity chip portfolio gap for Samsung. Market leaders Qualcomm and MediaTek also pursued acquisitions to fill their connectivity chip portfolio gap.”

He added that, in SA’s view, Samsung now has all of the technology pieces to cover the entire mobile component value chain, except for the baseband and connectivity technologies.

“If Samsung acquires a baseband company, then its applications processor (AP) technology, which is a crucial chip in smartphones and tablets, will probably become attractive to other handset manufacturers,” added Kundojjala. “This latest move can help Samsung to build relationships with new OEMs. In addition, this acquisition also gives Samsung access to variety of markets beyond cellular devices.”

However, Mark Hung, research director for wireless at Gartner argued that although Samsung is filling some important gaps with this deal, there are still a number that remain

“Even with the wireless connectivity technology they are buying from CSR, there are still holes,” he said. “For a complete handset platform, you  need wifi, Bluetooth, GPS and FM radio. This acquisition improves Samsung’s GPS capability; CSR probably still has the best GPS technology in the world. It’s Bluetooth technology is very good as well.”

“The key problem for Samsung is wifi. That’s the piece which CSR has struggled for many years to get working and, even today, the wifi/Bluetooth combo set that CSR has is not in production with any handset on the market.”

Samsung acquired a low-power WLAN company, Nanoradio, at the beginning of June, but Hung said that even this is not sufficient to complete Samsung’s portfolio.

“That company never shipped anything in volume either. So even with both of these acquisitions Samsung still does not have a very competitive mobile wifi chipset.”

Broadcom has inked a $3.7bn deal with Netlogic Microsystems

Semiconductor vendor Broadcom has announced it will acquire NetLogic Microsystems for around $3.7bn.

Broadcom specialises in creating semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, while NetLogic creates high performance intelligent semiconductor solutions for next generation networks. So the deal extends Broadcom’s infrastructure portfolio with new product lines and technologies such as knowledge-based processors, multi-core embedded processors and digital front-end processors.

Broadcom said that the deal will enable it to deliver best-in-class, seamlessly-integrated network infrastructure platforms to its customers, and reduce their time-to-market and development costs.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2012.

“Our industry-leading product portfolio will benefit from access to Broadcom’s broad set of leading-edge technologies, tools, resources and eco-system, which will enable the combined company to offer a complete and integrated platform for our customers’ next generation designs,”  said NetLogic Microsystems president and CEO Ron Jankov.

2011 will be a growth year for the femtocell market

The femtocell market is set for renewed growth in 2011, following the entrance of major semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom and deployment commitments by six operators in the last quarter alone. That is the central message from Informa Telecoms & Media’s new quarterly status report on the femtocell market, which is published on the Femto Forum’s website.

The past three months saw the first major acquisition in the femtocell industry, with Broadcom’s purchase of Israeli semiconductor start-up Percello. This validated the market, Informa said, and will help to drive competition in the space. There has also been a spate of operator deployment announcements with Vodafone Australia, three Taiwanese operators (Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile and Far EasTone), Turkish operator Avea and UAE operator Du all committing to femtocell deployments in 2011. Additionally, Verizon Wireless and MoldTelecom, the Moldovan incumbent, both began actively offering 3G femtocell services in the past quarter.

“All the signs indicate femtocells are set to have a strong 2011 as both the operator and vendor communities continue to get behind the technology,” said Dimitris Mavrakis, senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.

Informa expects the femtocell market to experience significant growth over the next few years, reaching just under 49 million femtocell access points (FAP) worldwide by 2014 and 114 million mobile users accessing mobile networks through femtocells during that year. Healthy growth is anticipated throughout the forecast period with femtocell unit sales reaching 25 million in 2014 alone.

The expansion of the femtocell industry is also reflected in the growing membership of the Femto Forum, the femtocell industry association, which now includes 72 vendors and 58 mobile operators representing over 1.71 billion mobile subscribers worldwide, across multiple wireless technologies (WiMAX, UMTS and CDMA) and accounts for 33 per cent of total mobile subscribers worldwide.

Broadcom has acquired Spanish power line networking firm Gigle

US chip vendor Broadcom has acquired Spanish power line networking firm Gigle for $75m. An additional consideration of up to $8m will be reserved for future payment.

Gigle is a privately held company based in Spain that develops system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions for home networking over power lines. Broadcom will integrate the technology with its own portfolio to design more highly integrated SoCs that allow whole-home network in segments including the set top box, broadband carrier access and wireless router.

The acquisition will also accelerate Broadcom’s time to market for G.hn, a draft specification for existing-wire home networking, developed under the International Telecommunication Union.

“The worldwide market has demanded technologies for powerline, coax and wireless networking using standards such as wifi, MoCA, HomePlug AV, IEEE 1901 and G.hn to allow the streaming of multiple high definition and 3D video streams,” said Jason Blackwell, digital home practice director at ABI Research.  “With electric outlets readily available around the home, more consumers are seeing the benefits of powerline, and service providers’ increased push toward gateways and IPTV is expected to help increase the market at a 32 perc ent compound annual growth rate from 2010 to 2015.”

The Percello deal is Broadcom's second acquisition this month

US silicon vendor Broadcom has revealed its second major acquisition of the month with the announcement that it has signed a deal to buy femtocell chip developer Percello Ltd for $86m. The deal comes two weeks after Broadcom acquired multimode 4G platform developer Beceem.

Broadcom said that the Percello acquisition should enable it to lower its bill of material cost and accelerate time to market for femtocell offerings.

“As wireless data usage continues to expand, this technology is well-positioned to enable wireless carriers to offload both data and voice traffic, while offering subscribers better cell reception in the home and office and accelerating the introduction of new converged mobile broadband services,” said Greg Fischer, vice president and general manager of Broadcom’s Broadband Carrier Access unit.

Industry analyst ABI Research estimates that more than one million femtocells have been shipped so far in 2010. By 2015, the firm said, it expects shipments to be running at 50 million annually, with WCDMA femtocells accounting for the majority of demand.

Earlier in October Broadcom announced the acquisition of Beceem Communications, which has developed a 4G platform supporting both LTE and WiMAX networks. Broadcom said it would pay approximately $316m for the firm, and that it would be integrating Beceem’s 4G technology with its own 3G/2G cellular solutions, wireless LAN, Bluetooth, GPS, Ethernet switching and other associated IP, to accelerate the availability of highly integrated, lower cost 4G wireless broadband devices.

Broadcom also posted its third quarter results this week, netting profits of $327m from revenues of $1.8bn.

Broadcom will pay approximately $316m for Beceem

US chipset vendor Broadcom on Wednesday announced the acquisition of Beceem Communications, provider of a 4G platform supporting both LTE and WiMAX networks. Broadcom will pay approximately $316m for the firm.

The company intends to integrate Beceem’s 4G technology with its own 3G/2G cellular solutions, wireless LAN, Bluetooth, GPS, Ethernet switching and other associated IP, to accelerate the availability of highly integrated, lower cost 4G wireless broadband devices.

Beceem recently announced a 4G multimode platform that can support both LTE and WiMAX networks, supporting peak broadband download speeds of up to 200Mbps.

ST-Ericsson, Broadcom get behind Android

Mobile operating system Android continues to win support, with chip makers ST-Ericsson and Broadcom this week announcing mobile platforms catering to the OS.

ST-Ericsson claims its offering would allow device manufacturers to produce smartphones with a wholesale price of less than €100, using its “highly-integrated and very power-efficient platform” – the U6715. The unit caters for navigation, web browsing, video streaming, email, wifi, a five megapixel camera, and touch screen, as well as incorporating an HSDPA modem.

The first devices using the U6715 chipset will appear in the first half of 2010, the company said.

Meanwhile, US chip firm Broadcom said it will be supporting Android across its range of wireless connectivity platforms, adding support for Bluetooth, wifi, Chinese security standard WAPI, and GPS.

Broadcom is thought to be working on an ARM Cortex 9-based MID

US chip shop Broadcom is thought to be following rivals Qualcomm and Intel into the netbook or Mobile Internet Devices (MID) space, after it licensed ARM’s Cortex A9 multicore processor this week.

Under a major licensing agreement, Broadcom will integrate the Cortex A9 processor technology into “next-generation mobile, wireless and other consumer electronics applications”.

In addition, ARM will also licence its Neon SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) technology to Broadcom, allowing the firm to provide acceleration for advanced, feature-rich multimedia, gaming and compute intensive applications on portable devices.

ARM claims that a single core Cortex A9 processor is capable of delivering twice the performance of today’s smartphone processors, and can be scaled up to exceed the functionality of high-performance embedded devices while consuming significantly less power, with each processor containing up to four independently configured, but fully coherent cores carrying out multiple tasks on each one in parallel.

Qualcomm got the bandwagon rolling in late May with the creation of a ‘new’ form factor that falls somewhere between the high-end smartphone and the netbook. The “smartbook” as Luis Pineda, senior vice president of marketing and product development at Qualcomm, dubbed the device, promises, “the smartphone experience in a larger form factor.”

Pineda said that around 15 companies are on board with the concept and there are around 30 such devices in development. The first of these will hit the shelves towards the end of 2009. Qualcomm would not name names, but Acer, Compal, Inventec, Samsung, Asus, Foxconn, LG, Toshiba, C-motech, HTC, Quanta and Wistron are all known users of the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform, which forms the foundation of the smartbook platform. Snapdragon, as a single chip solution combining GPS, multimedia, the processor, wifi and 3G on one chip, promises to make smartbooks lighter, thinner, cheaper and give them a longer battery life.

Then Nokia more recently jumped on the same bandwagon with the announcement of the Intel Atom-powered Booklet 3G, which runs Windows.

Qualcomm, Broadcom end chip shop spat

US chip giants Qualcomm and Broadcom have finally buried the hatchet over their long standing patent dispute, granting each other rights to their respective patent portfolios.

The agreement, struck on Sunday, will see all litigation between the two companies dropped, including all patent infringement claims being heard by the International Trade Commission and the European Commission.

As part of the deal, Qualcomm will pay Broadcom a total of $891m over a four year period, with $200m to be paid in the second quarter of this year. The two firms will no longer assert patents against each other regarding their respective integrated circuit products, nor will the companies customers receive any rights to the respective patents owned by the other firm.

In June of 2007, the ITC banned the import of new 3G phone models using chips made by Qualcomm. The ban came into effect after Qualcomm was previously found guilty of infringing three Broadcom patents related to a battery saving feature in cellular baseband chips.

“Today’s settlement allows both companies to move on with their business and compete in the semiconductor sector as two of its innovation leaders,” said Scott McGregor, president and CEO of Broadcom. “We have set aside our differences while addressing the needs of our customers, our shareholders and the industry. In addition, the companies have worked together to achieve their mutual goals of improving the competitive dynamics of the industry.”

US chip shop Qualcomm won a victory in its ongoing battle against rival Broadcom on Wednesday, after the appeals court lifted a ban on Qualcomm chips.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that the International Trade Commission (ITC) lacks the authority to ban products made by downstream users of Qualcomm’s chips who were not named in Broadcom’s complaint.

Essentially, this means Qualcomm’s customers can now ship products using Qualcomm’s chips. Rather confusingly however, Qualcomm itself is still subject to the ban.

In June of 2007, the ITC banned the import of new 3G phone models using chips made by Qualcomm. The ban came into effect after Qualcomm was previously found guilty of infringing three Broadcom patents related to a battery saving feature in cellular baseband chips. ]]> http://www.telecoms.com/5071/qualcomm-chip-ban-lifted-but-not-for-qualcomm/feed/ 0