China handset-design house Wingtech aims to become ODM handset maker

21 May 2008
China-based handset-design house Wingtech Group has emerged as the top handset solution vendor in China, and the company now aims to become an ODM handset maker, according to sources at the company and in the market.
Wingtech saw its shipments of handset solutions increase by more than four fold from four million units in 2006 to 18 million units in 2007, outpacing those from previous leaders, including TechFaith Wireless, Longcheer Group and SIM Technology, said market sources.
For 2008, the company expects its shipments of handset solutions, which comply with a number of standards, including GSM, CDMA, PHS and TD-SCDMA, will top 50 million units, indicated the company sources.
In addition to cooperating with China-based handset chipset vendor Spectrum Communications, Wingtech has also established business relations with other chipset vendors, including NXP Semiconductors and Marvell Technology, the sources noted.
In order to boost its profitability, Wingtech has decided to transform itself into an ODM handset maker by investing US$70 million to build a handset production base in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province in China, said the sources, indicating that the production base aims to turn out 30 million handsets a year initially.

Asustek to officially ink 3G licensing agreement with Qualcomm soon

25 Oct, 2007
Asustek Computer should free itself from any 3G chip patent disputes for upcoming 3G handsets as the company will soon ink a related licensing agreement with Qualcomm, according to industry sources.

Asustek has been extending its presence to 3G for several years, but the company and Qualcomm have not established a consensus over a possible cross-licensing as Asustek itself owns some 3G chip intellectual property (IP), the sources explained.

Despite that Asustek only started volume producing 3G handsets in late 2006, the relatively early deployment of the company in this sector has helped the company accumulate about over 90 technological innovations that are recognized by the 3GPP. More than 30 of these items may even be classed as "core IP", the sources noted.

According to estimates from the Technology Transfer Center (TTC) of Taiwan, the number of 3G patents that Asustek holds exceeds 130 in Taiwan – an amount that only Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) surpasses.

Asustek's rivals, which include BenQ and Qisda, Gigabyte Communications, High Tech Computer (HTC), Inventec Appliances and Mobinnova, have all adopted 3G solutions from Qualcomm for their handset offerings, with licensing fees reaching several million US dollars.

Asustek currently utilizes 3G solutions from Marvell and Ericsson Mobile Platforms (EMP).