Digitimes published a fascinating chart Nov. 30, based in part on unnamed sources, assessing Qualcomm CDMA Technologies Inc. (the semiconductor IP arm of Qualcomm) and its potential fortunes in future smartphone handsets. In past generations of digital cellular phones, the amount of influential overlap between the DSP processors used in baseband phones, and the microprocessors used in computers of any size, would have been minimal.
But the Digitimes statistics may bear more relevance to smartbook applications, for reasons that the compilers of the data probably never intended. The key is ARM licensing participation. Freescale Semiconductor, a primary supplier to RIM/Blackberry, also is developer of the ARM-based i.MX. And Marvell Semiconductor, listed as the main supplier to Palm Computing, has just introduced the Armada processor for potential Smartbook use.
The article lists Qualcomm as being the primary supplier to HTC, Samsung, and LG, as well as secondary supplier to Nokia and some Japan-based vendors (whose smartphones do not operate in other countries). It’s odd, but not surprising, to see that the DSP giants of years gone by, including Texas Instruments and Analog Devices, no longer fit into the new generation of smartphone suppliers at all.
This is not to say that there will be a one-to-one correspondence between smartphone and smartbook winners, as far as chip suppliers. What it does mean is that those smartphone suppliers that have an ARM core in their portfolio will be the ones most likely to challenge Qualcomm across the board. Granted, Nvidia can be a player in smartbooks with its Tegra architecture, even though it does not have a play in smartphones. But Qualcomm should expect to see the most of Freescale, Marvell – and oh, who’s that coming up on the inside rail with secondary smartphone contracts? Why it’s Broadcom, a company constantly doing battle with Qualcomm, and who only recently licensed the ARM 9 architecture. How interesting…
Loring
