S. KOREAN FIRMS DEVELOP MOBILE PHONES WITHOUT QUALCOMM CHIPS
Asia Pulse
SEOUL, Oct 24
(rn - seem to recall a similar article a year or 2 ago...)
A South Korean technology start-up said Monday it has developed a mobile phone with LG Electronics Inc. (KSE:066570) using its home-grown core semiconductors for cellular phones, a move expected to reduce the market dominance of U.S. wireless chipmaker Qualcomm Inc.
In a press release, Eonex Technologies Inc. said the new model, N1000, will soon go on sale to subscribers of SK Telecom Co. (KSE:017670), the nation's leading wireless operator.
Eonex said it is working with domestic and foreign handset manufacturers to develop additional mobile phones equipped with its own chip for launch during the first half of next year.
"The mobile phone's successful launch is expected to spark a change in the global wireless chip market that has been dominated by Qualcomm over the past 15 years," said Chun Sung-hwan, the company's chief executive officer, in the statement.
"In addition, it will help South Korean handset manufacturers save their significant bill from having to buy Qualcomm chips," Chu said.
Semiconductors made by Qualcomm, the world's second-largest wireless chipmaker, dominate as the core component of mobile phones running on code division multiple access (CDMA) technology.
Qualcomm, which holds key patents on the CDMA technology, earns some of its profit by collecting royalties from handset manufacturers such as South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics, the world's third and fourth largest 4 mobile phone makers, respectively.
Currently, South Korea's mobile phone makers spent about 3 trillion won (US$2.83 billion) a year buying chip sets from Qualcomm, Chun said.
Eonex is one of four companies in the world to make and sell chips that run the CDMA-based mobile phones, according to the company statement. The other three companies are Texas Instruments of the U.S., Philips of the Netherlands and VIA Telecom of Taiwan, it said.
Qualcomm's Korean unit officials were not immediately available for comment on Monday.
While Qualcomm developed the core CDMA technology in the early 1990s, South Korean companies were the first in the world to commercialize it.
Under the "most favored" agreements with South Korean companies, Qualcomm collects 5.25 percent of revenue from local sales of CDMA handsets in royalties and 5.75 percent of CDMA export earnings from domestic manufacturers, according to people familiar with the matter.
However, some South Korean handset manufacturers have complained about Qualcomm's move to offer cheaper royalties for companies in China.
(Yonhap)
AI
