Under the terms of the agreement, Nokia will outsource a core part of its integrated circuit (IC) operations to STMicroelectronics (ST). ST will be responsible for designing and manufacturing 3G chipsets based on Nokia’s modem technologies, energy management and radio frequency (RF) technology, and to deliver complete solutions to Nokia.
The terms of the agreement also includes the transfer of approximately 185 engineers and other Nokia personnel in Finland and the UK to STMicroelectronics. However, the transfer has been subject to a personnel consultation process required by local regulations.
According to the EE Times, Carlo Bozotti, chief executive of ST, said The agreement with Nokia positions ST as the first licensee for their 3G technology. When coupled with their design win and open-market flexibility, this announcement demonstrates ST’s role in the platform development for the future wireless market.
Tommi Uhari, executive vice president and general manager of ST’s mobile, multimedia & communications group, told EE Times Europe, This includes a multi-roadmap for proven technology, which allows the company to design, manufacture and promote the modem technology as well as supply complete system solutions to Nokia and the merchant market. Mr Uhari specified that ST plans to start sampling the last part of the chipset by the end of 2008, and the current estimate for the actual volume production is for 2010.
The newspaper also reported Monica de Virgiliis, vice president of personal multimedia group at ST, as saying: The RF is still in a BiCMOS type technology. We plan to move the cellular RF transceiver to full CMOS technology later in 2010. This chipset that we will ramp up early 2010 will move to RF CMOS. The next step is a single chip RF CMOS with digital baseband for the 45-nm and 32-nm node.
As a first design win under the deal, Nokia has awarded ST a 3G HSPA chipset design that supports high data rates. Furthermore, according to EE Times Europe, Nokia has indicated that it will continue to develop its modem technology, which includes protocol software and related digital design for W-CDMA and GSM.
Source: ComputerWire daily updates
