Earlier this week, ST-Ericsson said the joint venture was going to be shut down by the end of this year. There aren’t many companies out there who know how to make a capable SoC with a complete cellular radio stack, so it was a sad day for the mobile industry.
Now Reuters is reporting that Renesas is talking with foreign companies about selling their mobile phone unit. Never heard of Renesas? They bought Nokia’s chip design business several years ago, and the unit hasn’t made any money since the sale. Who is in best shape to buy Renesas? Qualcomm, obviously, but don’t count out Intel or NVIDIA or AMD either. Everyone is trying to become the next big player in the chip business, and it’s early days. The people in power are actually the people who produce the chips, the fabs, because they have to prioritize who gets to the front of the line. Fabs, especially TSMC, are running at full capacity, which means they can ask for higher rates since there’s a definite supply and demand issue. Who signs the big checks? Chip designers that place large orders, not the new kids on the block.
