Hot on the heels of the settlement news between Apple and Qualcomm, Intel has announced that it is exiting the 5G smartphone modem business. In a press release late Tuesday afternoon, the company said it sees “no clear path to profitability” in the space.
Intel Corporation today announced its intention to exit the 5G smartphone modem business and complete an assessment of the opportunities for 4G and 5G modems in PCs, internet of things devices and other data-centric devices. Intel will also continue to invest in its 5G network infrastructure business.
[…] “We are very excited about the opportunity in 5G and the ‘cloudification’ of the network, but in the smartphone modem business it has become apparent that there is no clear path to profitability and positive returns,” said Intel CEO Bob Swan. “5G continues to be a strategic priority across Intel, and our team has developed a valuable portfolio of wireless products and intellectual property. We are assessing our options to realize the value we have created, including the opportunities in a wide variety of data-centric platforms and devices in a 5G world.”
Intel adds that it will continue to meet current customer commitments for its existing 4G smartphone modem product line, but does not plan to launch any 5G modem products in the smartphone space. It will be providing additional details alter this month.
This is obviously a very interesting development given the announcement earlier today that Apple and Qualcomm had settled their years-long patent dispute. Despite the Intel’s bad reputation with iPhone users, they were still an alternative to Qualcomm’s chips.
Source: Intel