While business opportunities related to 5G equipment and services are expected to start emerging in 2018, 5G chipset suppliers will begin to release 5G chips to vie for the market in the second half of 2017, according to industry sources.

Qualcomm and Intel are expected to launch chipset solutions for 5G equipment supporting 28GHz frequency band in the second half of 2017, while Samsung Electronics is also likely to release comparable chips during the same period, said the sources.

Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung and HiSilicon Technologies are also expected to release chips for 3.5GHz frequency band, added the sources, noting that the 28GHz and 3.5GHz are the two frequency bands to be available for 5G services.

Meanwhile, Qualcomm, MediaTek and Spreadtrum Communications will compete for the 5G chipset solution orders for smartphones, as Apple, Samsung and Huawei will also roll out their own smartphone-use 5G chips.

Smartphone solution vendors may also begin to use 14-16 nm process nodes to fabricate their chips for the entry-level and mid-range smartphones later in 2017, instead of the 28nm process being used currently, said the sources.

Meanwhile, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Samsung are expected to start producing high-end smartphone chips using an advanced 7nm process in 2018, but it remains to be seen how big the high-end solution market would be in the future.

By: DocMemory
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