정확히 말하면 아마존에서 디바이스를 맡고 있는 Lab126 인원들 구조조정이지요.

아마존 폰은 Qualcomm chip의 가장 큰 성공작이었던 MSM8974를 쓰고도 유일하게 대박 실패한 작품이지요.

잘못된 경영진의 판단, 상품기획의 실퍠, 마케팅 실패로 인한 오류를 결국 엔지니어가 떠 안게되는 좋은 예가 될것 같습니다. 잘 만들어 놓고도 특정 기술개발이 늦여져 경쟁 스마트폰보다 1년이나 늦게 출시한것은 명백한 잘못이지요. 게다가 말도안되는 고가전략, 안드로이드 앱 마켓도 안되는 폐쇄적 생태계. 재때에 나오고 가격만 맞았더라면 대박도 가능했겠지요.

엔지니어들이 개발뿐만아니라 상품기획과 경영에 참여하지 않으면 결국 우리가 잘못하지 않은 문제로 칼을 맞을 수 있다는 좋은 예인것 같네요.

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The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) may be planning a change in its workforce. The company has terminated “dozens of engineers,” who worked on the Fire smartphones. The e-commerce giant’s hardware development unit, Lab126, is likely undergoing a strategic change, as numerous employees have been laid off.

In recent months, Amazon rendered two-day and same-day delivery services in some US locations. Its Amazon Prime membership allows users to order every day-use products to be delivered in hours.

In recent past, Amazon has launched many products, although its tech offerings were not ground-breaking. Lab126 was responsible for engineering and developing Amazon’s own line of electronic devices, including the Fire tablets and smartphones, Kindle products, and other technologically-advanced products such as the Echo.

The company’s latest move pertaining to its Lab126 engineers is likely a measure it took based on the criticism it faced with its Fire Phone. The company introduced its Fire smartphones in the hope to penetrate an industry that is highly saturated and immensely competitive. For the e-retailer, the Fire Phone proved to be a commercial failure.

Most probably, Amazon blames the smartphone’s underachievement to the workforce, which may be why it is rotating it to filter out the weeds. According to the publication, the company has slowed down many Lab126 projects, which include Project Cairo – a 14-inch tablet, Nitro – a smart stylus, and Shimmer – a projector.

As sources told WSJ, there are several products in plans, and the change in the workforce is probably due to that.

Reportedly, Lab126 is also working on a project codenamed “Kabinet,” which is essentially a “high-end computer for the kitchen.” It is being designed to operate as a home hub that can be controlled through voice commands for various functions, similar to Echo. Some engineers stated that they are planning a new battery for Kindle e-reader, which can last two years.

Although Amazon’s plans are not quite clear, the latest layoffs indicate the company’s tactical shift in the consumer electronics space. Lab126 has nearly 3,000 employees, and one may say that the recent reported layoff doesn’t make any difference. However, it is important to note that this is the first time the company has laid off workers in the unit’s 11-year history.

While most of Amazon’s native products, such as Kindle e-reader and Fire tablet, were a success, Fire Phone was a disappointment. The absence of the company’s significant impact in the tech industry is probably because it aims to drive growth in online purchases, rather than efforts to play the tech game. If Amazon isolates its e-commerce business from the development and research business, it may prosper. Perhaps, Amazon was more concerned about getting numbers, than devising a game plan for its entry into the smartphone business. The industry’s response to Fire Phone was definitely hurtful for the engineers’ and developers’ morale, and now, some of them have been laid off. While Amazon may be planning a comeback in the mobile industry, we suggest that it should stick to e-commerce.

퀄컴이 2014년 10월에 발표했던 CSR인수를 마무리 지었습니다. $2.4B에 2100명, 20개 사이트를 인수하는 딜이었는데 상당히 큰 편이지요.

결국 IOT/IOE, Automotive시장을 겨냥한 수인데. 그때 인수를 발표한것은 잘한것인데 이제야 마무리 된것에는 좀 문제가 있네요. 이쪽 시장은 변화가 무쌍한데 결국 회사도 내리막길이고 빨리 대응도 못하고 문제가 좀 있네요. 멀리 본 수는 잘한것 같고요.

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http://www.csr.com/about

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Here's what's next for Qualcomm as it completes its $2.4 billion CSR buy

Qualcomm must adapt its business model to sell chips for the internet of things. Here’s how it will change.

Qualcomm’s $2.4 billion purchase of fellow chip company CSR closed Thursday, and while it wasn’t the biggest chip deal the industry has seen since Qualcomm said it would purchase the UK firm in October last year, this is a deal that has high stakes for Qualcomm—a company that is struggling to remake itself completely as its core cellular radio business becomes an ever smaller portion of its portfolio and activist investors pressure management.

Back in October, when Qualcomm  QCOM -0.19%  said it would purchase CSR, the company that was an initial champion of the now-popular Bluetooth technology found inside headsets, speakers and phones, it was seen as an obvious technology bolt-on acquisition. The addition of CSR would pair with Qualcomm’s interest in the internet of things and its $3.1 billion purchase of Wi-Fi chipmaker Atheros back in 2011. That’s still true today, but since the deal has been announced Jana Capital has taken a significant stake in Qualcomm and pressured the company to make changes. Last month it said it planned to lay off 15% of its workforce and said it would only focus on five businesses: mobile phones, the internet of things, data centers, small cells, and automotive.

Qualcomm also has the unenviable task of becoming a chip firm that has to adapt from having a relatively small and captive customer base to one serving a huge number of customers across many verticals. It also doesn’t have a radio technology or a limited number of competitors to lock customers in when it’s selling its Wi-Fi products, and soon its Bluetooth chips. In interviews with Fortune, Qualcomm and CSR executives explained how this deal will help Qualcomm handle some of these challenges both technically and strategically.

With CSR Qualcomm isn’t simply buying a radio chip firm as it did with Atheros. It’s also buying a company that makes an entire package of chips and software that fits into cars, headsets, and Bluetooth speakers, which dovetails nicely with Qualcomm’s own design philosophy of squeezing the brains of a smartphone into the same package with the radios and the graphics core. This integrated single-package approach lowers the cost of materials, saves on space, and tends to save on battery life. That’s essential for cell phones and the chips powering your Bluetooth headset.

CSR is also the keeper of some fancy software that turns Bluetooth radios, which are usually point-to-point radios, into a mesh network designed for the smart home or office. This CSRMesh technology is part of several big lighting products expected out in the fall, and parts of it will undoubtedly make it into the next generation of the Bluetooth standard.

Anthony Murray, formerly a senior vice president with CSR and now the senior vice president and general manager of IoE (Internet of Everything) at Qualcomm, explained that not only could we see the CSRMesh technology in Bluetooth, but one day we may even see Qualcomm supporting the Thread protocol created by Samsung, Nest and other big names in home automation on top of the Bluetooth radio.

“So far the Thread protocol has chosen to support one radio [ZigBee], but there are many of radios out there that it could support and there are advantages in using the Bluetooth radio in some use cases,” Murray said. “We can’t not support Thread given the strength of the supporters behind it.”

Qualcomm will also get a few esoteric technology holdings, such as a document imaging software business that may eventually be spun out, but for the most part CSR’s silicon and software will boost Qualcomm’s internet of things and automotive businesses easily. It also helps bring Qualcomm another set of managers who are used to selling to a wide range of customers and a more traditional customer base. Qualcomm historically sold radios based on technology it developed, which meant that once it convinced a network operator, such as Verizon, to buy into a technology, any company that wanted to sell a handset to that network operator had to license that radio technology from Qualcomm.

In many cases they bought the radio from Qualcomm too. As Qualcomm grew it developed the brains behind smartphones as well and integrated that tech with radios, which meant its customers were still the handset makers. Qualcomm grew along with the smartphone market, providing some of the most powerful application processors inside handsets. For the most part, it was the Intel of smartphones, with the exception of the iPhone once Apple decided to build its own chip.

However, competition from China’s Mediatek was looming, and Qualcomm stumbled last year with one of its designs. It lost Samsung, which is still affecting its earnings. With these challenges in mind, diversifying its customer base isn’t a bad idea. Raj Talluri, senior vice president of product management, said Qualcomm brought in $1 billion from the internet of things in 2014 and expects to bring in 1.6 billion in 2015.

He said much of that comes from adding connectivity to existing devices, especially as a way to future proof them even if the manufacturer isn’t sure how they want to use it. “China is the most advanced and we see a lot of white goods with connectivity,” he said. “There are so many rice cookers that are shipping with connectivity in them.”

As for structuring Qualcomm to sell chips for thousands of different devices, from rice cookers to drones, as opposed to making a few different lines of chips for mobile phones, Talluri is optimistic that the San Diego-based company will rise to the challenge.

“That’s how most semiconductor companies are,” he said. “It’s a model that we know how to set up and CSR is one such company. The idea is you have multiple people each responsible for a segment and pick the technologies that they need … and you build the distribution channels and let the machine start rolling.”

He admits it may not be as “exciting” as winning or losing a chip inside a handset, but it is a far more stable business and as a veteran of Texas Instruments he’s been there before. First with Atheros and now with CSR, Qualcomm is adapting to what may be a far less exciting path, but one that could provide greater diversity and stability.

지금까지 퀄컴이 독점공급했던 아이폰에 Iphone 6S부터 인텔이 50% 정도 공급하는 vendor로 참여하게 됐습니다. 인텔입장에서는 오래동안 숙원사업이 이루어진것이고요, 독점지위를 유지하던 퀄컴은 또다른 매출 쇼크를 맞게 됐습니다. 다행히 모뎀은 매출 기여도는 높지만 순이익 기여도는 낮아서 다행인 면이 있습니다.

Iphone 6S, 6S plus, 6c(아직 정확하진 않지만) 어떻게 퀄컴과 인텔이 나눠가질지 궁금한데, 지금까지 뉴스로는 주요 시장은 퀄컴칩으로 아시아나 남미시장은 인텔칩으로 간다는 얘기가 있습니다.

인텔은 애플과의 계약으로 인해 내년에 $1B($750Mㅡ - $1.25B)정도 매출에 도움이 될거라고 합니다.

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Intel modems may be in up to half of next-gen iPhone shipments, analyst estimates

By Roger Fingas
Wednesday, August 12, 2015, 11:24 am PT (02:24 pm ET)

Chipmaker Intel may have won as much as half of the orders for modems in Apple's next-generation iPhones shipping this fall, an analyst with Northland Capital Markets claimed on Wednesday.

Apple has been considering an Intel modem "for a while," according to Gus Richard, who didn't identify a specific chip in an investor memo. In March a report sugested that Apple would use Intel's XMM 7360 LTE modem, but only in 2016 and for markets like Asia and Latin America.

Assuming a 50 percent order share, Richard suggested that Intel could generate an extra $750 million to $1.25 billion in revenue during 2016.

"This is a marque win for Intel and would go a long way to reducing the mobile business losses," he wrote.

Although Intel is an overwhelming force when it comes to desktop, laptop, and server processors, the growth of smartphones and tablets has undermined it financially. Most smartphones are based on processors with ARM architecture, including the iPhone, although Apple performs heavy customization to suit its needs.

Modem production is likely well underway for upcoming iPhone models. Apple may announce the new devices as soon as September 9, and launch them later in the month — typically, the company needs between one and two months of non-stop manufacturing to build up launch stock.

It's still uncertain whether there are only two new models planned — commonly referred to as the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus — or if Apple is also working on an iPhone 6c, which might potentially revive the 4-inch display size used for the iPhone 5, 5s, and 5c.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/08/12/intel-modems-may-be-in-up-to-half-of-next-gen-iphone-shipments-analyst-estimates

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Analyst: expect Intel LTE modems to find their way in up to 50% of Apple's iPhone 6S shipments

According to an analyst from Northland Capital Markets, we might be in for one of the strangest of partnerships between two tech giants next month. If a new report is to be believed, half of the phones from the upcoming iPhone 6S series will make use of Intel 4G LTE modems.

Gus Richard, an analyst with North Capital Markets, recently stated that Intel has won orders for half of Apple's iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus shipments. According to Apple Insider, this information lines up well with reports dating back in March which claimed that Apple is planning to integrate Intel's XMM 7360 LTE modem in the iPhone 6S series units that will be sold in markets around Asia and Latin America. 

Although Intel dominates the processor market when it comes to traditional computing machines such as desktops, laptops, and servers, Intel's mobile arm has been reporting huge financial losses during the past years. Reports claim that Intel has been heavily subsidizing its tablet processors in an attempt to catch a foothold among entry-level tablet makers in China, although Chipzilla has been unable to compete with ARM designs, either stock or custom, which find their way in the vast majority of smartphones and tablets models. 

According to Richard, this new deal with Apple will translate into a substantial revenue for Intel during 2016, one that will help alleviate some of the pain of its mobile division. The analyst estimates that Intel could generate somewhere between $750 million and $1.25 billion in revenue, which "would go a long way to reducing the mobile business losses". These are good revenue numbers, and Intel will surely welcome the cash despite the fact that company is primarily a processor designer and manufacturer, not a company that specializes in LTE modems.

If this report is accurate, chances are that Intel is currently hard at work manufacturing LTE modems for the first batch of iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus shipments, as multiple reports hinted that Apple's supply chain has already started mass manufacturing components for the next iPhone generation. According to recent reports, Apple will unveil the iPhone 6S generation on September 9, with commercial availability estimated to arrive later in the month. While the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S Plus are a lock for this fall, it remains to be seen if the often-rumored iPhone 6C will see an unveiling next month along the two premium smartphones.

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Analyst-expect-Intel-LTE-modems-to-find-their-way-in-up-to-50-of-Apples-iPhone-6S-shipments_id72574#SB6XxJ77TZxwIuYt.99

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퀄컴의 custom ARM core를 가진 하이엔드 다음 모델이 공개되었습니다. 연말에 상용화 예정입니다. S810에 홍역을 치른뒤라 여러면에서 준비를 많이 하고 있는것으로 알고 있고 실제로도 초기에 비해 많이 좋아졌다고들 많이 합니다. 여러 고객회사에서 이 칩을 기반으로 차세대 하이엔드 기기를 준비중일것으로 기대됩니다.

퀄컴의 자체 core인데, ARM core로만 만들어진 칩들과 성능이 어떻게 나올지도 관전 포인트 입니다.

Adreno 530의 성능도 스펙상 초고급인것 같은데, 역시 ARM에서 나오는 Mali와 대결도 볼만하겠네요. 

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http://www.androidauthority.com/back-to-school-tech-guide-best-gadgets-632086/

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퀄컴 `스냅드래곤 820` 그래픽 성능 40% 높이고 전력소모 40% 줄였다

퀄컴 차세대 프로세서 ‘스냅드래곤 820’에 탑재하는 그래픽프로세서(GPU) 성능이 40% 높아지고 전력소모는 최대 40%까지 줄었다. 앞선 그래픽 성능과 전력 효율로 내년 상반기 스마트폰 시장은 물론 자동차, 비주얼 컴퓨팅 등 다양한 시장을 겨냥한다.

퀄컴 자회사 퀄컴테크놀로지는 지난 9일부터 13일(현지시간)까지 미국 로스앤젤레스 컨벤션센터에서 열린 ‘시그라프 2015’에서 차세대 비주얼 프로세싱 기술을 적용한 새로운 최고사양 GPU와 새로운 이미지시그널프로세서(ISP)를 공개했다. 스냅드래곤 820 프로세서의 전력 효율과 성능을 대폭 향상시켰다.

새로운 퀄컴 아드레노 5xx 시리즈는 이전 제품인 아드레노 430 GPU 대비 전력소모는 최대 40% 줄이고 그래픽 성능은 40% 높였다.

저전력 범용 연산 코프로세싱도 지원한다. 64비트 가상 주소를 지원해 공유가상메모리(SVM)와 64비트 CPU간 효율적인 병렬 프로세싱을 구현한다. D램 사용을 최소화하며 저전력으로도 높은 성능을 낼 수 있게끔 전력관리, 렌더링, 압축 기술 등을 적용했다.

스마트폰에서 4K 영상을 감상하고 외부 디스플레이로 출력할 수 있다. HDMI 2.0을 지원해 초고해상도 UHD급 디스플레이에 최대 60fps 4K HEVC 비디오 출력을 지원한다.

아드레노 530과 아드레노 510 GPU는 스냅드래곤 820과 스냅드래곤 620·618 프로세서에 장착할 예정이다.

<퀄컴 차세대 프로세서 ‘스냅드래곤 820’에 탑재하는 그래픽프로세서(GPU) 성능이 40% 높아지고 전력소모는 최대 40%까지 줄었다. 앞선 그래픽 성능과 전력 효율로 내년 상반기 스마트폰 시장은 물론 자동차, 비주얼 컴퓨팅 등 다양한 시장을 겨냥한다.>

특히 스냅드래곤 820 프로세서에는 DSLR급 화질 카메라와 고화질 컴퓨터를 지원하기 위한 새로운 14비트 ‘퀄컴 스펙트라’ ISP를 함께 탑재했다. 최대 3개 카메라를 동시 지원하며 더 자연스러운 피부색을 표현하는 등 높은 화질을 제공한다. 최대 25메가픽셀 데이터를 초당 30프레임까지 시간 시연없이 처리한다.

하이브리드 오토포커스 프레임워크를 비롯해 다양한 센서와 결합하면 컴퓨테이셔널 포토그라피(CP)를 지원하는 한층 진일보한 사진 촬영이 가능하다.

퀄컴은 스냅드래곤 820 프로세서를 탑재한 단말기는 2016년 상반기부터 출시될 예정이라고 밝혔다.

팀 리랜드 퀄컴 테크놀로지 제품 담당 부사장은 “퀄컴 스펙트라 ISP는 아드레노 5xx시리즈 GPU와 결합해 모바일 기기 이미징 분야의 새 지평을 열 것”이라고 강조했다.

스냅드래곤 820을 탑재한 스마트폰을 이용하면 흔들리거나 까다로운 조도 환경에서도 깨끗하고 생생한 사진과 영상을 찍을 수 있고 자연 그대로의 색상을 표현할 수 있다고 설명했다.

그는 “자동차를 비롯해 새롭게 주목받는 분야에서 현실적인 시각적 경험에 대한 요구에 대응하기 위해 스냅드래곤 820 프로세서로 차세대 인포테인먼트, 컴퓨터 비전, 첨단 프로세싱을 지원할 것”이라고 덧붙였다

미디어텍 상황입니다. 한줄 요약은 성장 동력이 꺽이고 있는것으로 보입니다. 

미디어텍이 대만업체라서 중국에서 독주가 오래가지 않을거라 생각하고 있습니다.

퀄컴이 실적이 안좋은 것도 미디어텍과 관련이 없는것 같습니다.

중국 시장에서 인텔을 업은 spreadtrum이 약진하고 있습니다. 미디어텍은 LTE시장에서 성장은 하고 있찌만 아직까지 모뎀쪽이 원하는 수준까지 성장을 못하고 있는것 같습니다.

Marvell, NVidia가 모바일 시장에서 철수하면 그 파이를 누가 가지게 될까요? 누가 날개를 달게될까요.

(좀더 조사해서 update예정)

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공개자료만 모았음을 밝힙니다.

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Qualcomm Corp. moved to appease an activist investor and slash costs in response to a nearly 50% drop in quarterly profit.

The San Diego-based chip designer said would cut spending by $1.4 billion and consider restructuring its operations, such as separating its design and patent-licensing businesses. Qualcomm previously has considered splitting into two but always wound up rejecting the idea.

Chief Executive Steve Mollenkopf on Wednesday promised to take a fresh look at potential breakup options to reflect recent heightened competition. He told analysts Qualcomm now would examine “any and all ways to maximize shareholder value.”

The cuts include paring 15% of its full-time employees and “significantly” cutting its temporary staff. Qualcomm last year employed about 31,300 full-time and temporary employees, indicating that more than 4,500 workers could be affected.

Qualcomm also plans to cut $300 million from its annual share compensation grants to employees. The staff cuts will result in between $350 million and $450 million in restructuring charges, it said.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/qualcomm-plans-changes-to-company-structure-1437595996

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2015Q3 (날짜로는 Q2)

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회사에서 밝힌 회생방안(Strategic Realignment Plan)

DEFINITION OF 'SELLING, GENERAL & ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSE - SG&A

Reported on the income statement, it is the sum of all direct and indirect selling expenses and all general and administrative expenses of a company. 

Direct selling expenses are expenses that can be directly linked to the sale of a specific unit such as credit, warranty and advertising expenses. Indirect selling expenses are expenses which cannot be directly linked to the sale of a specific unit, but which are proportionally allocated to all units sold during a certain period, such as telephone, interest and postal charges. General and administrative expenses include salaries of non-sales personnel, rent, heat and lights.

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지난분기 Q2(일반 달력으로 Q1)

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For fiscal Q1 2014, the company had QCT revenue of about $4.6 billion and MSM shipments of 213 million. These two metrics will be areas of focus for investors on Wednesday's earnings call. The other metric is revenue per shipment, which has been in decline:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2856976-qualcomm-q1-earnings-4-things-you-need-to-know

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2014년

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2012년

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퀄컴 주가가 약세를 면치 못하고 있는데요. 이후 먹거리를 아직 못찾고 있는것으로 보이는데, IoT시장이 향후 5년간 엄청난게 크게 성장한다는 예상에 따라 모든 노력을 집중할것이라는 뉴스입니다. 향후 5년간 $5 trillion까지 성장한다고 하니 10-20%만 먹어도 충분할것 같습니다. IoT시장은 한 회사가 독점하기는 어려운 시장이지요.

Qualcomm Targets The Internet of Things Sector Full Force

Continued from page 1

Trefis Team , Contributor

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2015/07/06/qualcomm-targets-the-internet-of-things-sector-full-force/

지난 글에서 2014년 year to year로 집계된 data를 정리한 적이 있는데요. 그 이후로 상황이 많이 바뀌었네요. LTE provider에서 Mediatek이 10%로 독보적 2위로 성장하고 삼성도 S6에 자체 모뎀을 넣음으로서 많이 성장했다고 합니다. 자세한 data는 회사 라이브러리가 업데잇이 안되서 확인이 안되네요.

2014 y2y - Mobile AP Processor 시장 점유율과 이익

trategy Analytics: MediaTek Captures Double-Digit Share in LTE Basebands in Q1 2015

Boston, MA - July 1, 2015 - The global cellular baseband processor market registered strong 27 percent year-over-year growth to reach $5.8 billion in Q1 2015, according to Strategy Analytics Handset Component Technologies service report, "Baseband Market Share Tracker Q1 2015: Samsung LSI Grabs Number Three LTE Spot ."

Click here for the report:  http://sa-link.cc/JI

·         Samsung LSI beat out Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 in Samsung Mobile's Galaxy S6 and moved up to number three in LTE baseband shipments

·         The wait for the strong number two player in LTE basebands is over and MediaTek has now firmly established itself as the solid number two to Qualcomm

·         In the global 3G baseband market Spreadtrum overtook MediaTek to capture the number two spot

According to this research report from Strategy Analytics, Qualcomm, MediaTek, Spreadtrum,Samsung LSI and Marvell captured the top-five baseband revenue share spots in Q1 2015. Qualcomm maintained its baseband market leadership with 61 revenue share, followed by MediaTek with 18 percent revenue share and Spreadtrum with 7 percent revenue share.

Spreadtrum 홈페이지를 훌터봤더니 모뎀,SOC, Modem/Baseband, RF, Power management, Multimedia, Connectivity 등 게다가 펩리스! 완전 Qualcomm을 보고 만들었다고 해도 과언이 아닌 회사네요.

퀄컴 바로 옆에 오피스도 하나 있네요. 화웨이랑 같은 빌딩에 들어있는 것으로 보입니다.

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LTE쪽도 현재 마켓쉐어는 작지만 증가율이 무시무시 합니다. 퀄컴의 경쟁자중 삼성만 성장율이 두자릿수도 너무지는 세자리 무시무시 하네요.

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54조원 규모의 세계 반도체 파운드리 시장을 향한 인텔의 행보가 빨라지고 있다. 인텔은 올해 중 반도체 업계 다크호스로 부상하고 있는 중국 스프레드트럼의 14나노 모바일 애플리케이션프로세서(AP)를 위탁 생산하며 파운드리 시장에서 존재감을 키운다는 방침이다.

28일 주요 외신과 업계에 따르면 인텔은 연내 중국의 스프레드트럼으로부터 14나노 핀펫 파운드리(위탁생산)을 맡을 예정이다. 스프레드트럼은 내년부터 출시할 저사양, 고사양 모바일 프로세서의 대부분을 TSMC, 삼성전자 대신 인텔을 통해 생산할 계획이다.

스프레드트럼이 인텔의 파운드리를 사용한다는 건 기존 ARM을 적용한 프로세서뿐만 아니라 인텔의 x86 설계를 채택한 칩도 만들겠다는 의미다. 현재 모바일 프로세서를 생산하는 90% 이상의 기업은 영국의 ARM 설계를 사용하고 있고, 인텔의 x86 아키텍처를 기반으로 한 칩은 사실상 인텔 외에 없는 상황이다.

이번 인텔과 스프레드트럼의 파트너십은 지난해부터 예견된 일이다. 지난해 인텔은 칭화유니그룹에 15억달러를 투자해 자회사인 스프레드트럼과 RDA 마이크로일렉트로닉스의 지분을 20% 확보했다.

하지만 인텔과 칭화유니그룹의 투자 합의서에 반드시 인텔 파운드리를 사용해야 한다는 의무 조건이 없다는 점을 감안하면 양사의 이해관계가 맞아떨어졌다는 분석이 우세하다. 인텔 입장에서는 ARM 일색인 모바일 시장에서 자사 x86 기반 칩의 점유율을 늘려야 하는 입장이고, 스프레드트럼은 대만의 미디어텍을 뛰어넘기 위해서는 인텔의 공정 기술력이 필요하다.

Intel's Investment in Tsinghua Unigroup/Spreadtrum: WellTimed Strategy to Expand x86 Architecture in Chinese and Emerging Smartphone Markets 

Intel's $1.5 billion investment in Tsinghua Unigroup for a 20% stake as a shrewd and welltimed strategy to further the x86 architecture and Intel technology into the mobile market, given the Chinese government's desire to expand and spur domestic semiconductor production and reduce smartphone silicon imports especially for the low-range and midrange markets. In essence, this investment significantly increases Intel's access to China, India, and other emerging markets through Spreadtrum and RDA's smartphone vendor relationships.

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2015 LTE Baseband Competition Hotting up, Qualcomm’s Lead Shrinking

Spreadtrum Profile - Well Positioned For Mobile Processor Success

Mobile AP Processor 2014년 market data입니다. PC에서 CPU같은거라고 보시면 되겠습니다.

퀄컴이 39% 점유율에 이익은 전체에 52%를 가져갔습니다. 안드로이드쪽에서는 완전히 독주하며 땅파장사했다고 보여집니다.

Spreadtrum은 인텔이 지분을 20% 인수한 기업인데, 중국에서 상당히 잘하고 있는것 같습니다. 앞으로 FAB도 인텔공장에서 14nm로 찍어낼 계획이라는데 엄청 무시무시 할것 같습니다. 가진 기술을 보니 중국의 퀄컴정도 되는것 같습니다. 중국 공산당 입장에서는 위국 기업인 퀄컴도 별로 안좋을것 같고, 대만기업은 MediaTek이 잘해도 별로일것 같고 자국기업을 미뤄주고 싶을것 같네요.

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standalone 시장은 Apple이 다 먹다시피했고

http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=ktec21&logNo=220341098323

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http://www.spreadtrum.com/en/index.html

스프레드트럼에 대한 내용은 다른 글에 정리하고 있습니다.

http://orunson.tistory.com/entry/%EC%A4%91%EA%B5%AD-Spreadtrum-%EC%A0%95%EB%A6%AC