Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced the expansion of its 5G RAN Platforms portfolio with the addition of the Qualcomm 5G DU X100 Accelerator Card. The Qualcomm 5G DU X100 is designed to enable operators and infrastructure vendors the ability to readily reap the benefits of high performance, low latency, and power efficient 5G, while accelerating the cellular ecosystem's transition towards virtualized radio access networks.

The Qualcomm 5G DU X100 is a PCIe inline accelerator card with concurrent Sub-6 GHz and mmWave baseband support which is designed to simplify 5G deployments by offering a turnkey solution for ease of deployment with O-RAN fronthaul and 5G NR layer 1 High (L1 High) processing. The PCIe card is designed to seamlessly plug into standard Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) servers to offload CPUs from latency-sensitive and compute-intensive 5G baseband functions such as demodulation, beamforming, channel coding, and Massive MIMO computation needed for high-capacity deployments. For use in public or private networks, this accelerator card aims to give carriers the ability to increase overall network capacity and fully realize the transformative potential of 5G.

NVIDIA's $40 billion takeover of Arm Holdings plc from SoftBank, got a shot in the arm, as three major licensees of the IP came out in support of the bid. These include Broadcom, MediaTek, and Marvell Technology Group. This development is key for NVIDIA to fight the perception built up by a rival faction, that the democratized nature of the Arm IP would get lost if a chipmaker like NVIDIA owns it. This rival faction is primarily led by Qualcomm.

It's interesting to note the individual backers of the NVIDIA takeover. There is nothing but love between Broadcom and Qualcomm, especially after the former's failed bid to acquire the latter. MediaTek is a major smartphone and IoT SoC maker, dominating the low-cost and mainstream smartphone segments. Marvell is big in datacenter and storage IP. Each of the three are results of huge IP consolidation over the past decade.

Qualcomm is proposing a consortium of companies that will make a competitive bid to acquire Arm Holdings from SoftBank, if NVIDIA falters in its acquisition, according to a report in The Telegraph citing an interview with Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon. Unlike NVIDIA's bid, where a single company that's in the SoC designing business, gets to own Arm IP, giving it a competitive upper-hand over other Arm licensees; the consortium would be made up of several companies, including Qualcomm, one of Arm's largest IP licensees, which makes SoCs for smartphones, tablets, wearables, and IoT devices, across all market segments.

"If Arm has an independent future, I think you will find there is a lot of interest from a lot of the companies within the ecosystem, including Qualcomm, to invest in Arm," said Amon. "We will definitely be open to it, and we have had discussions with other companies that feel the same way. That's the reason it's a logical conclusion for us, and for many other companies, that to invest in a strong and independent Arm is probably the best for everyone," he added. NVIDIA is in the process of acquiring Arm Holdings, lock, stock, and barrel, in a humongous $40 billion deal, which has run into hold-ups with competition regulators across the globe, including the UK, the home of Arm Holdings.

Global audio specialist, Mixcder, is today pleased to announce the launch of the G1 true wireless earbuds. With improved portability and impressive functionality, the 2-in-1 G1 earbuds have been designed to improve users' gameplay experiences across some of the most popular consoles, including PS4, PS5 and Switch Lite and are now available to purchase from Amazon for £69.99. Thanks to the Bluetooth capability, the G1 can also be used with mobile phones like normal earbuds.

The unique 2-in-1 premium design of wireless earbuds and a compatible type-c adapter, paired with the built-in Qualcomm chip, ensures a stable connection and reliable performance without the additional cost of a separate adaptor or wireless accessories which are usually needed to connect existing earbuds to consoles and controllers. The G1 earbuds also have a built-in PixArt chip with 60 ms ultra-low latency technology, which effectively reduces sound delay and any audio lags, enabling users to maintain complete focus in Fortnite battles and multi-player matches on FIFA.

QNAP Systems, Inc. (QNAP), a leading computing, networking, and storage solution innovator, today released the QMiro-201W and the QMiroPlus-201W. Both routers provide a Home Cloud and Tri-band Mesh Wi-Fi SD-WAN solution to empower high-coverage Mesh Wi-Fi and storage applications. With QuWAN SD-WAN cloud deployment, Zero Trust security, and a home cloud solution, the QMiro Series enables simple and secure home Wi-Fi, cloud storage with remote networking applications.

"As QNAP's first Mesh Wi-Fi router series, the QMiro-201W and QMiroPlus-201W provide both stable Mesh Wi-Fi in homes and an SD-WAN VPN connection for remote workers", said Frank Liao, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "With the Home Cloud 2.0 solution, QMiroPlus-201W both greatly simplifies home private cloud deployment to offer a user-friendly experience for home users and also provides remote workers with efficient access between company, home and public clouds."

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today unveiled the Galaxy Book Go and Galaxy Book Go 5G, new additions to the Galaxy Book lineup, powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon compute platforms. The Galaxy Book Go series provides more choices at accessible prices to consumers looking to achieve more anytime, anywhere.

"PCs continue to enable our digital lives, helping us connect to our friends and family, work remotely, and find outlets for creativity and relaxation," said Woncheol Chai, SVP and Head of Experience Planning Team, Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics. "The Galaxy Book Go series is built for today's mobile-first users, who expect seamless communication, sustained productivity, and immersive entertainment—all in one device. With the new addition to the Galaxy Book, Samsung offers wider options to our consumers to choose a device that best fits their needs."

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today debuted the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 compute platform, the second generation of the Company's breakthrough entry-level platform for always on, always connected Windows PCs and Chromebooks with efficient performance and support for multi-day battery life. During the Qualcomm Snapdragon Compute: Scaling the Mobile Compute Ecosystem Virtual Announcement, the Company shared that devices powered by Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 will upgrade entry-level device experiences with enhanced camera and audio capabilities, integrated LTE connectivity, AI acceleration, enterprise-grade security features, and the long-lasting battery life that users deserve. The addition of Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 to the compute platform portfolio will enable customers to scale device offerings and address user demands.

The Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 compute platform will continue to demonstrate how the Company is revolutionizing laptop experiences. With leading notebook performance, support for multi-day battery life, intelligent AI, integrated LTE connectivity, and advanced camera and audio features, this platform will set a new standard for entry-level consumer, enterprise, and education devices.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced the Qualcomm Snapdragon Developer Kit, which is designed to enable extended support for independent software vendors and application developers to test and optimize their applications for the growing ecosystem of devices powered by Snapdragon compute platforms. Built in collaboration with Microsoft, this Windows 10 on Arm-based developer kit is a cost-effective resource for developers to verify and validate their solutions to help ensure great user experiences for working, learning, and collaborating on Snapdragon-enabled Windows 10 PCs.

This is the latest collaboration between Qualcomm Technologies and Microsoft to strengthen resources for developers who are recompiling, optimizing, and testing applications for Windows 10 devices powered by Snapdragon compute platforms. In September 2020, Microsoft announced the expansion of its App Assure Program to Windows 10 on Arm PCs powered by Snapdragon compute platforms, as well as the optimization of Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Teams, and Visual Studio Code. The latest advancement in the coordinated support of independent software vendors and application developers was the December 2020 introduction of x64 emulation preview for Windows 10 PCs, to the Windows Insider Program.

KS Distribution is pleased to announce the release of the new Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0 true wireless earphones. This update to the multi award-winning PurePlay Z3 adds features such as the new Qualcomm QCC3040 chipset, Bluetooth 5.2, wireless charging, Hear Through mode and the new PureControl app compatibility - all this and more while keeping the price at £99/$99/€99.

Successor to the multi award-winning PurePlay Z3 (TEVI), the PurePlay Z3 2.0 takes the performance of Lypertek's first true wireless earphones to a whole new level. Utilising Qualcomm's latest QC3040 chipset allows for Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity and superior connection quality thanks to its TrueWireless Mirroring technology. Added features including wireless charging, Hear Through mode and compatibility with the new Lypertek PureControl app guarantees to offer an outstanding and customisable audio experience.

Panasonic today introduced the TOUGHBOOK S1 tablet - the ultimate rugged Android tablet for the truly mobile worker. This 7 inch screen device is easy to use in one hand, adaptable for a variety of tasks yet powerful and tough enough to cope with the busiest shift. It's at its best when in the hands of security and police forces patrolling the streets, technicians monitoring production lines, field services engineers carrying out inspections and maintenance or construction workers on site.

"The modern mobile worker deserves a mobile computing device designed for their everyday needs - not just another consumer tablet in a hardcase with all the potential problems they bring," said Baris Koc, European Product Manager for rugged mobile IT at Panasonic. "The TOUGHBOOK S1 is that professional mobile workforce device. It's built without compromise to meet the very specific and practical everyday needs of both the users and the IT administrators deploying and maintaining them."

As one of the most important tech summits globally, COMPUTEX Forum and its discussion topics have always garnered great attention. To facilitate the discussion on future technology trends, the COMPUTEX Forum on June 2 and 3 will evolve around the theme of "The New Era of Intelligence." TAITRA announced the lineup of speakers to discuss key applications of 5G, AI, IoT, and electric vehicles, deep diving into business strategies in the post-pandemic era.

In the morning of Wednesday, June 2, COMPUTEX Forum will address the topic of "AIoT Evolution." Leading semiconductor giants such as Intel, Micron, NVIDIA and Supermicro, will explore how they accelerate business opportunities in the 5G era. In the afternoon, NXP Semiconductors will kick off the "AI Empowerment" session by sharing its vision and lead the Secure Edge and AI Empowerment discussions in fields. As AI rises in various applications, Arm, Delta Electronics, Micron and Check Point Software will elaborate their latest solution in different scopes.

HTC VIVE, the global leader in premium virtual reality (VR), today set a new benchmark for business and consumer VR, bringing 5K resolution and a 120-degree field of view as standard to the two new VR headsets announced today at VIVECON 2021, HTC's global VR conference. VIVE Pro 2 pushes the boundaries of PC VR for incredible gaming, creating, and experiences, while VIVE Focus 3 redefines business VR with a purpose-built All-in-One with no compromises. HTC also announced VIVE Business, its comprehensive range of tools designed to support businesses of any size to get the most out of VR.

"Today's launch marks a major milestone in our strategy to create the very best immersive experiences. We have listened to our customers, from well-known global companies to smaller firms and professional users, and have designed these premium headsets from the ground up to meet the challenges they face, adding a professional range of software, platform and services to make implementation as smooth and effective as possible," said Cher Wang, HTC Chairwoman and CEO. "In line with our mission, we've combined the very latest technology with the needs and aspirations of our customers, enabling them to unleash their imagination to improve people's lives and solve problems for business and society."

Linksys, a global leader in home and business Wi-Fi solutions, today announces the availability of the market's first Wi-Fi 6E certified systems, the Linksys Hydra Pro 6E and award-winning Linksys Atlas Max 6E. Built with Velop Intelligent Mesh and utilizing the newly opened 6GHz band, the Linksys Hydra Pro and Linksys Atlas Max expand the user's network for the fastest speeds possible to every corner of the home. Wi-Fi 6E offers the 6GHz band connection that is needed for device-heavy homes and ensures optimal performance for video conferencing, working and learning from home, as well as the latest AR and VR devices.

"Wi-Fi 6E is driving a surge in technology innovation and we're proud to deliver next-level solutions that harness 6E speeds and efficiency, coupled with built-in Velop Intelligent Mesh," says Harry Dewhirst, vice president of business development, Linksys. "As the market's first Wi-Fi 6E system certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance we remain steadfast in our commitment to provide our customers reliable, innovative and secure Wi-Fi solutions."

Award-winning portable audio specialists Lypertek has today announced the next step of its celebrated PurePlay portable audio range: PurePlay Z7 triple hybrid-driver true wireless earphones. The new PurePlay Z7 follows on the huge success of Lypertek's first true wireless release - the multi award-winning PurePlay Z3 (previously TEVI) - offering an updated design, improved set of features and for the first time ever; hybrid-driver technology delivering audio unlike any other true wireless. The Lypertek PurePlay Z7 will be available from Lypertek, Amazon (UK/US/EU) and other selected retailers from the beginning of June 2021 (date TBC), priced at £199/$199/€199.

The UK government has stalled NVIDIA's $40 billion acquisition of Arm by constituting an investigation in "public interest." This investigation will look into the national security implications to the UK, of the acquisition. Although Arm is being transacted between Japan's SoftBank Holdings and American NVIDIA, Arm itself is a UK-based entity. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will lead the investigation, and file a report with the UK government by June 30, 2021.

NVIDIA responded to the development, stating that the acquisition has no material national-security issues affecting the UK. "We will continue to work closely with the British authorities, as we have done since the announcement of this deal," NVIDIA stated. Leading tech firms, namely Google, Qualcomm, and Microsoft, etc., voiced apprehensions over the deal. Unlike SoftBank, NVIDIA is a chip-designer in its own right, and could withhold cutting-edge Arm technology to itself, giving its CPUs/SoCs a competitive edge over other Arm licensees, these firms believe.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced the latest addition to its 7-series portfolio, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 780G 5G Mobile Platform. Snapdragon 780G is designed to deliver powerful AI performance and brilliant camera capture backed by the Qualcomm Spectra 570 triple ISP and 6th generation Qualcomm AI Engine, allowing users to capture, enhance, and share their favorite moments seamlessly. This platform enables a selection of premium-tier features for the first time in the 7-series, making next generation experiences more broadly accessible.

"Since introducing the Snapdragon 7-series three years ago, more than 350 devices have launched based on 7-series mobile platforms. Today, we are continuing this momentum by introducing the Snapdragon 780G 5G Mobile Platform," said Kedar Kondap, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "Snapdragon 780G was designed to bring in-demand, premium experiences to more users around the world."

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in 1H20 seemed at first poised to devastate the IC design industry. However, as WFH and distance education became the norm, TrendForce finds that the demand for notebook computers and networking products also spiked in response, in turn driving manufacturers to massively ramp up their procurement activities for components. Fabless IC design companies that supply such components therefore benefitted greatly from manufacturers' procurement demand, and the IC design industry underwent tremendous growth in 2020. In particular, the top three IC design companies (Qualcomm, Broadcom, and Nvidia) all posted YoY increases in their revenues, with Nvidia registering the most impressive growth, at a staggering 52.2% increase YoY, the highest among the top 10 companies.

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., has completed its acquisition of the world-class CPU and technology design company, NUVIA for $1.4 billion before working capital and other adjustments.

"The world-class NUVIA team enhances our CPU roadmap, extending Qualcomm's leading technology position with the Windows, Android and Chrome ecosystems," said Cristiano Amon, President and CEO-Elect, Qualcomm Incorporated. "The broad support of this acquisition from across industries validates the opportunity we have to provide differentiated products with leading CPU performance and power efficiency, as on-demand computing increases in the 5G era."

Demand in the global foundry market remains strong in 1Q21, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. As various end-products continue to generate high demand for chips, clients of foundries in turn stepped up their procurement activities, which subsequently led to a persistent shortage of production capacities across the foundry industry. TrendForce therefore expects foundries to continue posting strong financial performances in 1Q21, with a 20% YoY growth in the combined revenues of the top 10 foundries, while TSMC, Samsung, and UMC rank as the top three in terms of market share. However, the future reallocation of foundry capacities still remains to be seen, since the industry-wide effort to accelerate the production of automotive chips may indirectly impair the production and lead times of chips for consumer electronics and industrial applications.

TSMC has been maintaining a steady volume of wafer inputs at its 5 nm node, and these wafer inputs are projected to account for 20% of the company's revenue. On the other hand, owing to chip orders from AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm, and MediaTek, demand for TSMC's 7 nm node is likewise strong and likely to account for 30% of TSMC's revenue, a slight increase from the previous quarter. On the whole, TSMC's revenue is expected to undergo a 25% increase YoY in 1Q21 and set a new high on the back of surging demand for 5G, HPC, and automotive applications.

In 2019, AMD and Samsung have announced that they will be joining forces to develop a new class of mobile SoCs, carrying the Exynos name and having a Radeon GPU inside. These Exynos SoCs could be used for almost everything that needs a low-power processor. While the original plan was to have these processors run inside Samsung's mobile phone offerings, it seems like there is another application for them. If the rumors coming from ZDNet Korea are correct, we are in for a surprise. According to the source, Samsung is preparing to use the Exynos SoC with Radeon graphics in the company's next-generation laptops lineup.

While there is little to no information regarding the specifications of the said system, we can expect it to be a fully Samsung-made laptop. That means that Samsung will provide display, RAM, storage, battery, and other components manufactured by the company or its divisions. This laptop is expected to replace Samsung's Galaxy Book S, which currently uses Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx SoC. The new PC is going to be Windows 10 based system. For more details, we have to wait for the announcement.

In September of last year, NVIDIA has officially announced that the current industry rumor about its big acquisition was true. The company has announced that it is acquiring Arm Limited from the Softbank Group. Paying as much as $40 billion for the purchase, NVIDIA is gaining access to the complete company, along with its extensive portfolio of IP and knowledge. That means that NVIDIA is not essentially a holder of the Arm ISA, which is the most dominant ISA within mobile processors. Such a deal, however, is a bit hard to process without some troubles popping up along the way. As Arm held a neutral position as IP provider, NVIDIA is expected to remain as such, and the company even promised to stay true to that.

However, not everything is going as planned. Before completing the acquisition process, NVIDIA must first comply with regulators from all around the world, including the US, UK, EU, and China. If any objections raise within those regions, they are to be interrogated. Today, Google, Microsoft, and Qualcomm have objected that NVIDIA's Arm acquisition is hurting the market and are urging antitrust officials to intervene. Mentioned companies believe that NVIDIA's move is hurting the market and the company could limit its competitors from accessing the IP, thus breaking Arm's neutral position as an IP provider. NVIDIA has made statements that Arm will remain in such a position, however, the skepticism of the mentioned companies is slowing the merger. Now all that remains is to see how the conflicted companies solve their worries.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced the Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System, its fourth-generation 5G modem-to-antenna solution. It is the world's first 10 Gigabit 5G and the first 3GPP release 16 modem-RF system, which is currently sampling to OEMs and targeting commercial device launches in 2021. Snapdragon X65 is the Company's biggest leap in 5G solutions since the commercialization of its first modem-RF system. It is designed to support the fastest 5G speeds currently available with fiber-like wireless performance and makes best use of available spectrum for ultimate network flexibility, capacity and coverage. In addition to the Snapdragon X65, Qualcomm Technologies also announced the Snapdragon X62 5G Modem-RF System, a modem-to-antenna solution optimized for mainstream adoption of mobile broadband applications.

Research and development spending by semiconductor companies worldwide is forecast to grow 4% in 2021 to $71.4 billion after rising 5% in 2020 to a record high of $68.4 billion, according to IC Insights' new 2021 edition of The McClean Report—A Complete Analysis and Forecast of the Integrated Circuit Industry. Total R&D spending by semiconductor companies is expected to rise by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.8% between 2021 and 2025 to $89.3 billion.

When the world was hit by the Covid-19 virus health crisis in 2020, wary semiconductor suppliers kept a lid on R&D spending increases, even though total semiconductor industry revenue grew by a surprising 8% in the year despite the economic fallout from the deadly pandemic. Semiconductor R&D expenditures as a percentage of worldwide industry sales slipped to 14.2% in 2020 compared to 14.6% in 2019, when research and development spending declined 1% and total semiconductor revenue fell 12%. Figure 1 plots semiconductor R&D spending levels and the spending-to-sales ratios over the past two decades and IC Insights' forecast through 2025.

Acer today announced a pair of new 11-inch Chromebooks for the education market with well-rounded features intended to make it as easy as possible for a school to go digital: military durability standards let parents trust that the devices are reliable, Zero-touch enrollment makes it easy for IT to roll them out, and students will enjoy the intuitive responsiveness of Chrome OS.

The Acer Chromebook 511 (C741L) is an 11.6-inch notebook computer that simplifies the process of establishing a digital learning environment, with a number of features that will benefit both the students using the devices and the school administrators rolling them out. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c compute platform allows for up to 20 hours of battery life between charges on top of offering an efficient performance to keep up with students' learning needs. Utilizing Snapdragon 7c, the Acer Chromebook 511 also delivers built-in 4G LTE connectivity to help protect the security of users' data and to provide fast, reliable access to learning apps in the cloud -- enabling students to take the classroom with them and learn from virtually anywhere. Weighing in at just 1.3 kg (2.87 lbs), this thin and light device is portable enough for students of all ages to easily transport between classes.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. unveiled the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 5G Mobile Platform, a follow-on to the flagship Snapdragon 865 Plus, which features an enhanced Qualcomm Kryo 585 CPU prime core clock speed of up to 3.2 GHz. The new Snapdragon 870 is designed to deliver increased performance across the board for geared-up gameplay with insanely fast Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite Gaming experiences, truly global 5G sub-6 GHz and mmWave, and ultra-intuitive AI.

"Building upon the success of Snapdragon 865 and 865 Plus, the new Snapdragon 870 was designed to address OEM and mobile industry requirements," said Kedar Kondap, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "Snapdragon 870 will power a selection of flagship devices from key customers including Motorola, iQOO, OnePlus, OPPO, and Xiaomi."