SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. tightened their ties with a new deal that calls for Samsung to build Qualcomm’s chips for CDMA and W-CDMA phones. The agreement further solidifies the partnership between one of the world’s largest mobile-phone makers and one of the wireless industry’s largest chipset companies.
“Strong business and technology synergies between the two companies make this strategic foundry partnership the next logical step in a long-standing relationship,” said Oh-Hyun Kwon, president of Samsung’s System LSI business. “With a strong commitment to leading-edge technology and state-of- the-art 300mm wafer capacity, we expect to see our strategic foundry business grow with companies such as Qualcomm.”
Qualcomm is a fabless semiconductor company, which means it designs chips for mobile phones but does not actually manufacture them. Samsung, on the other hand, makes a wide variety of memory chips for phones and other consumer electronic devices, and is working to expand its chip-manufacturing business.
The deal is notable between the two companies because Samsung’s handsets primarily run Qualcomm chips. The foundry agreement between the two companies likely will give Qualcomm a more solid position in the wireless chipset market, including the W-CDMA business.
