MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s biggest handset chip designer, said yesterday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Chinese modem chip designer AST Wireless (傲世通) to cooperate on developing chips supporting China’s home-grown TD-SCDMA technology.
The announcement came amid recent speculation that US rival Qualcomm Inc planned to acquire AST Wireless to make faster headway in developing TD-SCDMA handset chips.
MediaTek said the strategic partnership with AST Wireless will help enlarge its TD-SCDMA product portfolio to match rising demand for various end-user terminal devices, and that the deal will enhance the firm’s 3G-and-beyond technological capability, a press release said.
“Continuous technological innovation in the TD-SCDMA industry is one of the major factors driving MediaTek to the overall leading position,” MediaTek said.
The deal also involves China’s biggest mobile operator, China Mobile Ltd (中國移動), which plans to expand China’s 3G market, the Hsinchu-based mobile telephone chipmaker said.
“The deal will enable MediaTek to develop TD-SCDMA chips for China Mobile, better catering to the needs of the telecom company, because of close links between China Mobile and AST Wireless,” said Kenneth Lee (李克揚), a semiconductor analyst with Fubon Securities Investment Services Co (富邦投顧).
New 3G and smartphone chips would create business opportunities that can sustain the company’s growth for several yeas to come, Lee said. Lee reiterated a “buy” rating on MediaTek with a raised target price of NT$700.
In the initial stage, the new handset chips could account for 10 percent of MediaTek’s plans to ship up to 400 million chips this year, Lee said.
AST Wireless is a high-tech startup based in Suzhou and a developer of wireless terminal chipset solutions, according to the company’s Web site. Currently, it is focusing on developing 3.5G HSDPA technology and it plans to move to 3.9G or 4G technology.
China Mobile had more than 5 million TD-SCDMA subscribers at the end of last year, the telecoms operator said.
“The Laguna-U chipset is the successor of the industry’s first HSDPA chipset [Laguna], which was commercially used at the Beijing Olympic Games and can support HSDPA downlink up to 2.8Mbps,” the statement said. “The Laguna-U is now in mass production to support the large-scale commercialization of HSPA in 2010.”
Shares of MediaTek jumped 1.92 percent to NT$584 yesterday, beating the TAIEX, which edged up 0.81 percent.
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
SECOND-RATE: Models distilled from US products do not perform the same as the original and undo measures that ensure the systems are neutral, the US’ cable said The US Department of State has ordered a global push to bring attention to what it said are widespread efforts by Chinese companies, including artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek (深度求索), to steal intellectual property from US AI labs, according to a diplomatic cable. The cable, dated Friday and sent to diplomatic and consular posts around the world, instructs diplomatic staff to speak to their foreign counterparts about “concerns over adversaries’ extraction and distillation of US AI models.” Distillation is the process of training smaller AI models using output from larger, more expensive ones to lower the costs of training a powerful new
Micron Technology Inc is a driving force pushing the US Congress to pass legislation that would put new export restrictions on equipment its Chinese competitors use to make their chips, according to people familiar with the matter. A US House of Representatives panel yesterday was to vote on the “MATCH Act,” a bill designed to close gaps in restrictions on chipmaking equipment. It would also pressure foreign companies that sell equipment to Chinese chipmaking facilities to align with export curbs on US companies like Lam Research Corp and Applied Materials Inc. The bill targets facilities operated by China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings’ planned acquisition of Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations has yet to enter the formal review stage, as regulators await supplementary documents, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said yesterday. Acting FTC Chairman Chen Chih-min (陳志民) told the legislature’s Economics Committee that although Grab submitted its application on March 27, the case has not been officially accepted because required materials remain incomplete. Once the filing is finalized, the FTC would launch a formal probe into the deal, focusing on issues such as cross-shareholding and potential restrictions on market competition, Chen told lawmakers. Grab last month announced that it would acquire
RSS