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Qualcomm and Apple Agree to Drop All Litigation

Daniel Nenni

Daniel Nenni

Admin
Staff member
It is about time. I'm guessing Apple needed 5G modems? Agreement ends all ongoing litigation, including with Apple’s contract manufacturers. Companies have reached a global patent license agreement and a chipset supply agreement

View attachment 23388

SAN DIEGO & CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Qualcomm and Apple® today announced an agreement to dismiss all litigation between the two companies worldwide. The settlement includes a payment from Apple (AAPL) to Qualcomm. The companies also have reached a six-year license agreement, effective as of April 1, 2019, including a two-year option to extend, and a multiyear chipset supply agreement.

Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. Apple’s four software platforms — iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.

Qualcomm invents breakthrough technologies that transform how the world connects, computes and communicates. When we connected the phone to the Internet, the mobile revolution was born. Today, our inventions are the foundation for life-changing products, experiences, and industries. As we lead the world to 5G, we envision this next big change in cellular technology spurring a new era of intelligent, connected devices and enabling new opportunities in connected cars, remote delivery of health care services, and the IoT — including smart cities, smart homes, and wearables. Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, all of our engineering, research and development functions, and all of our products and services businesses, including, the QCT semiconductor business. For more information, visit Qualcomm’s website, OnQ blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple Newsroom (www.apple.com/newsroom), or call Apple’s Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.

© 2019 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

CT

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005931/en/

Apple
Kristin Huguet, (408) 974-2414
khuguet@apple.com

Apple
Josh Rosenstock, (408) 862-1142
jrosenstock@apple.com

Qualcomm
Pete Lancia, (858) 845-5959
corpcomm@qualcomm.com

Qualcomm Investor Relations
Mauricio Lopez-Hodoyan, (858) 658-4813
ir@qualcomm.com
Source: Apple Inc.
 
Valiant effort by Intel to capitalize on the situation, but it's troubling that with their resources they (or really anyone) can't hold a candle to Qualcomm in 5G..
 
Great news for Qualcomm, bad news for Intel in 5G. They are exiting the 5G mobile phone business, and I'm not sure if there will be enough demand in standalone 5G chips in mobile computers to justify the R&D expense. Interestingly enough Intel popped on the news, maybe it wasn't a great business for them in terms of margin?

This may have repercussions on Intel 7nm, as even if it wasn't a huge revenues, the wafer volumes were likely significant. Even if 7nm is on track from a technical standpoint, it will need some pretty big wafer volumes to justify the cost of building the fabs. Losing the modem chip business hurts, as will losing Apple's mac processor business down the road. Then you have AMD coming in and taking marketshare, and you start to wonder where the wafer volumes needed to fill future fabs is going to come from.
 
Remember, QCOM 5G modems are TSMC 7nm and Intel 5G modems were/are Intel 10nm which are equivalent. From what I hear Intel 7nm is progressing and not in "trouble" by any definition.

Interesting note, I had an executive level meeting with Intel a few years back and I was not a fan of them going into the modem business. They proved me wrong when they won Apple but I have now been vindicated in my small mind. Intel spent billions of dollars getting into that business and never made a dime. Vindicated I say!

It looks like the new CEO/CFO is making the right decisions. No foundry business, no modems, not sure about the mobile SoCs Jim Keller is making. My fingers are crossed wishing Intel well.
 
"Remember, QCOM 5G modems are TSMC 7nm and Intel 5G modems were/are Intel 10nm which are equivalent."

Intel 5G modems don't exist. That's not even an apples to oranges comparison, it's an apples to nothing comparison.

I'm not suggesting that Intel is in trouble on 7nm from a technical standpoint, but one of the reasons they went and bought the modem business, the FPGA business, started the Intel custom foundry business, was to make sure they could fill ever more expensive fabs with ever high volume to justify the cost of building them. The cost to develop a new process node is increasing exponentially, and at a certain point it stops making economic sense to continue.

This is why GloFo exited, and I think there is some risk that Intel will also get stuck from an economic standpoint.
 
Last edited:
count said:
"Remember, QCOM 5G modems are TSMC 7nm and Intel 5G modems were/are Intel 10nm which are equivalent." Intel 5G modems don't exist. That's not even an apples to oranges comparison, it's an apples to nothing comparison. I'm not suggesting that Intel is in trouble on 7nm from a technical standpoint, but one of the reasons they went and bought the modem business, the FPGA business, started the Intel custom foundry business, was to make sure they could fill ever more expensive fabs with ever high volume to justify the cost of building them. The cost to develop a new process node is increasing exponentially, and at a certain point it stops making economic sense to continue. This is why GloFo exited, and I think there is some risk that Intel will also get stuck from an economic standpoint.
Click to expand...

True, but the point being this is good news for TSMC since the Apple 5g modems are TSMC 7nm instead of Intel.
 
What is it with Intel and wireless though? They bought Infineon and still can't make things work. They have never had a success in this segment that I recall. This seems super negative for their volumes. The stock buyers are after the dividend in a negative interest rate world. Dividends are the new growth.
 
Intel dropping modem ICs

Chipper said:
What is it with Intel and wireless though? They bought Infineon and still can't make things work. They have never had a success in this segment that I recall. This seems super negative for their volumes. The stock buyers are after the dividend in a negative interest rate world. Dividends are the new growth.
Click to expand...
It would be interesting to know the reasons why Intel could not compete. Modem design skills were supposed to come from Infineon. Was their problem related to designing modems in Intel technology ? Would they have "failed" if they were still using TSMC ? Or was this a strategic decision related to product mix. (I doubt it.) Rumors are that they are still bidding on custom foundry business -- but their lack of success there looks bad ... and not being able to successfully design modems in their technology won't help.
 
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