The LTE modem market is about to get a bit more crowded. Broadcom (BRCM) and Nvidia (NVDA) have both announced LTE modem solutions to compete with chip giant Qualcomm (QCOM), which has dominated the market so far.
Both solutions are significantly smaller that Qualcomm’s competing chipsets. Nvidia has integrated its i500 LTE modem with its new Tegra 4i processor, which boasts an ARM quad-core CPU and no fewer than 60 GPU cores (which sounds like a lot but is actually fewer than the company packed onto the chipset’s cousin, the Tegra 4.) The company says the integrated solution is half the size of its nearest competitor.
Broadcom says its new BCM21892 is the world’s smallest 4G LTE-Advanced modem. It will be produced using a 28nm process, and production is not scheduled to start until next year. The company says that by supporting the 3GPP LTE-Advanced standard the chip enables speeds of up to 150 Mbps, and that its power management technologies in the radio reduce power consumption during data uplink by up to 25%.
The BCM21892 supports carrier aggregation, one of the features most requested by carriers. Carrier aggregation clearly adds value to the chipset, but it also adds time to the carrier certification process.
“The big challenge for all of these newcomers is to get their chips certified by the major carriers for use on LTE,” said analyst Linley Gwennap of The Linley Group. He says Nvidia has achieved a few certifications for its LTE modem, but that Qualcomm has a signficant lead. “Qualcomm has spent years getting certified all around the world and is the primary choice for most carriers. That leaves everyone else playing catchup,” Gwennap said. “But once these certifications are complete, in another year or two, we will see more competition, leading to lower prices for LTE phones.”
