Qualcomm Announces $3 Billion Acquisition to Grow 5G

Qualcomm is upping the ante in its global push to bring 5G to the masses.

The U.S. semiconductor and telecom giant revealed Monday it is acquiring the remaining portion of RF360, its joint venture with Japanese electronics giant TDK Corporation. The company expects the deal to aid in the development of efficient 5G devices. Qualcomm said the deal brings the total purchase price of RF360 to $3.1 billion.

"We're adding a number of new employees to Qualcomm, and it's just the last milestone in our journey to be building RF [radio frequency] business for Qualcomm," said Cristiano Amon, President of Qualcomm, in an interview with Cheddar Monday. A statement from the company says the full acquisition of RF360 means Qualcomm will be "able to provide customers a complete end-to-end solution from modem to antenna."

"The next goal, which I think will start in 2020, is to scale 5G," said Amon. He told Cheddar a top priority for the tech company is "getting 5G not only in the premium tier, but bring to our 7 and 6 series Snapdragon platforms [mobile processors] so we can have phones at multiple platforms for 5G."

The San Diego-based tech company announced earlier this month that it is expanding its portfolio of 5G mobile platform across Snapdragon 8 Series, 7 Series, and 6 Series in 2020. Qualcomm said the rollout has the potential to make 5G accessible to more than 2 billion smartphone users, which Amon said will be most impactful for consumers in services such as video game streaming and social media.

"More and more video will be consumed in mobile devices, and even live content, or sports content, because you have the reliability," Amon said. "Social, a lot more of interaction will happen because of the response time. There's going to be a lot more live aspects to Facebook and the other social platforms. And then we go into gaming," he added. "You'll see gaming evolving to mobile platforms, and 5G will make all of that a reality."

Qualcomm already has found success integrating its technology into early 5G devices, such as the Samsung A90 5G smartphone.

"With probably one exception, every 5G-announced smartphone design, in all the major [original equipment manufacturers], are using Qualcomm technologies."

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