Samsung Develops Key Cell Phone Chip

Samsung Electronics Co. has developed a key semiconductor chip used in code division multi access(CDMA) system cellular phones, which up until now was all imported from the American company, Qualcomm.
Samsung announced on April 12 that it spent 22 million dollars in research over the past two years to develop a chip to use in its mobile station modem and base band analog processor together with related software. It will use its own chip from now on instead of Qualcomm's chip.
The chip controls a mobile phone's ordering system of non-memory chips, and Qualcomm has monopolized the chip since 1995.
Domestic cellular phone companies were forced to attach an additional 30 dollars on each phone unit as a royalty to Qualcomm. Up until last year, Korean companies had paid more than 1 billion dollars to Qualcomm.
A Samsung representative commented, 'Now 90 percent of our cellular phone's components were developed in-house, and the only thing left is the battery.'
Samsung produced 7.4 million cell phone units in 1998, the 7th most in the world, and is aiming for 13 million units this year.
Hwashik Bong : trojans@joongang.co.kr