SAN DIEGO—Qualcomm Inc. is making its fabless approach to its semiconductor business leaner and meaner by signing on with the chip fabrication alliance of IBM Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd., also known as the Common Platform initiative.
Qualcomm’s move is an effort to facilitate volume manufacturing of system-on-a-chip products for CDMA2000 and W-CDMA markets, thereby cutting costs, reducing time to market and quickly responding to changes in chip design. The move also diversifies the fabrication of Qualcomm’s chips, ensuring it can meet volume demand. Qualcomm currently uses IBM and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. for fabrication of its chips.
The deal also provides another customer for the three chip-manufacturing companies’ common initiative, enabling them to operate their foundries closer to their capacity.
