Speaking of Intel, the first thing that comes to mind may be Intel Core, Xeon series CPUs, in fact, Intel is also involved in the 4G/5G baseband market, providing baseband products for terminal equipment such as computers and mobile phones.
However, because the baseband design is a test of communication technology and experience, Intel's baseband research and development road is not smooth, and it is now time to say "goodbye".
It is reported that it is expected that before the end of May this year, Intel will transfer the 5G baseband technology of notebook computers to two domestic companies, MediaTek and Guanghetong, and bid farewell to the 5G baseband market by the end of July.
As a leader in the CPU industry, the small baseband has become a "cake" that Intel has never been able to take, is 5G baseband research and development really that difficult?
It can be seen from the process of Apple's "repeated defeat" self-developed signal baseband. Although Intel is an unrivaled king player on the PC side, the research and development of baseband is a technical job that requires a lot of time and experience accumulation, and if there is no early 2G/3G/4G technology accumulation, the subsequent 5G baseband research and development will not be smooth.
First of all, the baseband chip is the core part that affects the call quality and data transmission speed of mobile phones and other devices, responsible for signal reception and processing, and the current baseband chip manufacturers mainly include Qualcomm, MediaTek and HiSilicon. If you want to develop your own 5G baseband, you not only need to meet the current 5G frequency band standards, but also be compatible with 2G/3G/4G and other communication protocols, which requires a lot of capital investment and mature technical teams to check.
Intel spent $1.4 billion to acquire Infineon's baseband technology as early as the 3G era to start the development of 4G mobile phone baseband, but Intel has been struggling in the baseband market due to the lack of CDMA technology and the lack of high patent fees to Qualcomm.
Because of mobile phone signal problems, Apple is looking for suitable 5G baseband suppliers while developing 5G baseband, and Intel has also provided 4G baseband products for the iPhone Xs series and iPhone 11 series.
Unfortunately, due to the "short board" of Intel's baseband technology at that time, there will also be obvious call lag, traffic WiFi disconnection and other problems in daily measurement, and Intel's 4G baseband has overturned.
Second, a qualified 5G baseband needs to stand up to testing and validation by operators around the world. Before going public, baseband manufacturers need to cooperate with telecom operators from all over the world to conduct a full range of tests, find problems in the test, and continuously improve and optimize the 5G baseband to reduce the occurrence of poor signal of mobile phone terminal equipment.
With the upgrading of mobile communication standards, the technical difficulty and cost investment of developing baseband products continue to increase, and if there is no patent and technical experience accumulated in the early stage, it is necessary to pay high patent fees to baseband manufacturers such as Qualcomm; Even if the 5G baseband goes public smoothly through many difficulties, if the shipment volume does not meet expectations and the cost cannot be recovered, it will be difficult for baseband manufacturers to survive.
Also in the year of the release of the iPhone 11 series, Intel sold the 5G mobile phone baseband business to Apple for $1 billion, but Intel still retained the development of Bluetooth, WiFi, PC platform 4G/5G wireless products and other businesses.
Data show that in the third quarter of 2022, the global cellular baseband processor market increased to $8.7 billion, and Qualcomm won the first place with a market revenue share of 62%, followed by MediaTek (26%) and Samsung LSI (6%), it can be seen that only three manufacturers occupy 94% of the baseband market, leaving not much profit margin for other manufacturers.
Qualcomm occupies more than 60% of the global 5G baseband chip market share, due to the "rollover" of Intel baseband and the uncertainty of self-developed baseband progress, the next iPhone 15 will still use Qualcomm Snapdragon X70 5G baseband.
Subject to the inability to break through technical barriers, coupled with the few profit margins left, Intel also intends to transfer the relevant 5G baseband technology to other manufacturers this year. As for the existing 4G baseband market, the last shipment will be shipped by the end of 2025.
A small 5G baseband has stumped the two technology giants, do you think 5G baseband research and development is difficult?