Qualcomm strengthens RF business with RF360 consolidation

Qualcomm acquired the remaining interest in RF360 Holdings Singapore Pte., a joint venture with TDK Corp., for approximately US$3.1 billion.

The joint venture has produced RF front-end (RFFE) filters which enable Qualcomm Technologies to deliver complete 4G/5G RFFE solutions.

Qualcomm said the acquisition enables it to provide customers a complete end-to-end solution from modem to antenna, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF System, including the world’s first commercial 5G NR sub-6 and mmWave solutions, integrating power amplifiers, filters, multiplexers, antenna tuning, LNAs, switching and envelope tracking products[2].

Qualcomm’s second generation RFFE solutions for its 5G portfolio will further enable OEM customers to design thin, high-performance, battery-efficient 5G multimode devices at scale and on time. Qualcomm Technologies’ system-level innovations such as wideband envelope tracking and adaptive antenna tuning intelligently combine the modem and RFFE to help achieve best-in-class 4G/5G power efficiency, data speeds and coverage. Due to the complexity of 5G, with its new spectrum and wider bandwidths, Qualcomm Technologies’ advanced RFFE solutions are very well-positioned to win future smartphone designs.

“Our goal in the formation of this joint venture was to enhance Qualcomm Technologies’ front-end solutions to enable us to deliver a truly complete solution to the mobile device ecosystem, and we have done exactly that,” said Cristiano Amon, president of Qualcomm Incorporated. “We are excited about the strong adoption of Qualcomm Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF Systems in virtually all of our 150+ 5G design wins. Our systems approach has created a benchmark for 5G RFFE performance.”