Replies to post #128878 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[mjk]

Bullwinkle, I've seen the exchanges between you and ET, if you don't mind I'd like to chime in.

QCOM is not making chips for W-CDMA basestations, they are "supplying" IP, i.e. they will get paid royalties off the sale of such base stations. Yes, others do have IP in W-CDMA, that does not mean QCOM will not receive royalties. Those agreements have already been worked out with each individual company, and they vary from company to company. Owning IP for the technology and actually making the chip are two different things as I'm sure you know, so you can't call it QCOM's chip if someone else is simply paying for the IP and designing and manufacturing the chip themselves.

Why aren't they making a W-CDMA base station modem? QCOM is in the business of advancing CDMA for the purpose of making money for QCOM and its shareholders. Investing in the research and development for something they won't be able to sell is pointless, QCOM has a solution good enough to use for W-CDMA system test purposes, i.e. to use along with the W-CDMA phone modems (MSMs) to test the system, the MSMs, etc. The companies that (will) deploy W-CDMA base stations are the same that deployed GSM, and these are the same that fought long and hard not to pay QCOM for their CDMA patents. It figures they won't be looking to QCOM for W-CDMA base station solutions. QCOM is working on W-CDMA ICs for phones however, as this market (the W-CDMA phone market) will be wide open with many Asian companies trying to enter this space. And here, things like features, level of integration, power consumption, etc, really matter (and volumes are huge), and QCOM has excelled with CDMAone/1X, so it stands to reason they feel as though they have a good opportunity to gain market share in the W-CDMA MSM space. For instance, Samsung has already stated they plan on using QCOM ICs in their first W-CDMA phones, this could be the case with many manufacturers who have experience with QCOM ICs in CDMAone/1X phones. And if other W-CDMA IC makers stumble, QCOM could take a decent share of this market.

[extelecom]

Bull, MY guess that NOK/ERICY could be using TXN, but I do not know this for a fact. I have no idea who is supplying LG, Samsung, Toshiba or any of the other suppliers. I can't determine if Lucent even has WCDMA equipment as I find very little reference on their site. I think possibly Toshiba and others may make their's inhouse. I am sure a lot of it is farmed out. I think TXN could be the future wireless chip giant. I wouldn't make an investment decision based on someone making or not making an infrastructure chip.

" Remember, if they are is using any portion of QCOM's IPR (i.e license, design, etc.), then that would qualify it as QCOM's chip."
It is true that these people using non QCOM chips are using some QCOM IPR as well as many others IPR, this does not make it a "QCOM" chip.
Anyone can make their own chips provided they have agreements and pay all parties involved. At least one of the Equipment suppliers claims 30% or more of WCDMA IPR.

It is my opinion that since QCOM does not have the lock on the standards setting in WCDMA that it had with CDMA that it makes sense for them to not make the WCDMA chips as each Equipment manufacturer will have their own set of requirements.