Intel to Auction Off Modem IP and Patents

[MacRumors]

Intel is planning to auction off its portfolio of patents related to cellular wireless connectivity, according to a new report from IAM.

Intel's upcoming auction follows the company's April decision to exit the 5G smartphone modem business. Intel stopped work on 5G modem technology after Apple and Qualcomm reached a settlement and a supply agreement that will see Qualcomm providing 5G modem chips for future iPhones.

Multiple rumors have suggested Apple and Intel have held talks about Apple's potential purchase of Intel's German modem unit. The two were in talks as early as this month, with Intel planning to sell its modem business off in pieces.

Intel is aiming to sell off 8,500 assets from its patent portfolio, including 6,000 patents related to 3G, 4G, and 5G cellular standards and an additional 1,700 patents on wireless implementation technologies.

The auction that Intel has planned is separate from its efforts to sell its smartphone modem business, though IAM speculates that an interested buyer could potentially pick up both. It's also possible that a group of companies could band together to purchase the patents that are up for grabs.

It could be that Intel's decision to sell its portfolio is part of a strategy to drum up interest in the modem business as a whole. There is no indication yet that Intel has ruled out selling the patent assets to a non-practising entity, which might encourage a group of operating companies to band together to take the assets off the assertion market.

Should Apple purchase either Intel's patent business, Intel's patents, or both, it would give the Cupertino company a leg up in its own mobile chip development. Apple is working on creating its own line of modem chips to reduce reliance on suppliers like Qualcomm, but it will be several years yet before Apple's own chips are ready to be used in iPhones and other devices.

Article Link: Intel to Auction Off Modem IP and Patents

 

[justperry]

Kinda odd to include the 5G Intel modem picture above, Intels Logo would do, there won't be an Intel 5G modem.

 

[mozumder]

This won't end well for anyone if a patent troll picks them up.

 

[justperry]

This won't end well for anyone if a patent troll picks them up.

Or worse, Qualcomm

 

[Cosmosent]

RE: "but it will be several years yet before Apple's own chips are ready to be used in iPhones and other devices."

That should really read "but it will be several years yet (& NO guarantee)".

The odds that Apple is ever successful with a competitive cellular modem chip is ONLY 1/3 "best case".

1/3 chance they Fail out-right, 1/3 chance they complete the R&D project & then conclude it's NOT competitive.

Cellular Model Development is Rocket Science !

 

[ViDeOmAnCiNi]

Apple should definitely purchase the patents just for protection of their own modem (if it comes to fruition).

 

[laz232]

RE: "but it will be several years yet before Apple's own chips are ready to be used in iPhones and other devices."

That should really read "but it will be several years yet (& NO guarantee)".

The odds that Apple is ever successful with a competitive cellular modem chip is ONLY 1/3 "best case".

1/3 chance they Fail out-right, 1/3 chance they complete the R&D project & then conclude it's NOT competitive.

Cellular Model Development is Rocket Science !

given their market position it can be competitive to have their own RF and BB chipsets.

Purchase of the Intel division makes sense - it's already close to an Apple RD centre. NB the Intel modem chips were fabbed on 28nm TMSC last time I was involved (iphone 7 era IIRC) - nothing to do with intel's CPU fabs

 

[ProcessorSolderedToMB]

RE: "but it will be several years yet before Apple's own chips are ready to be used in iPhones and other devices."

That should really read "but it will be several years yet (& NO guarantee)".

The odds that Apple is ever successful with a competitive cellular modem chip is ONLY 1/3 "best case".

1/3 chance they Fail out-right, 1/3 chance they complete the R&D project & then conclude it's NOT competitive.

Cellular Model Development is Rocket Science !

Worse, for all we know they may have already gone through this multiple times.

Yet, in Srouji I trust.

 

[Return Zero]

This won't end well for anyone if a patent troll picks them up.

Eh... I’d think this is high-profile enough to prevent that from happening. That is, assuming Apple or some other legitimate tech company can outbid a patent troll, which should be easy.

 

[realtuner]

RE: "but it will be several years yet before Apple's own chips are ready to be used in iPhones and other devices."

That should really read "but it will be several years yet (& NO guarantee)".

The odds that Apple is ever successful with a competitive cellular modem chip is ONLY 1/3 "best case".

1/3 chance they Fail out-right, 1/3 chance they complete the R&D project & then conclude it's NOT competitive.

Cellular Model Development is Rocket Science !

Rocket science? Funny that Qualcomm can't leverage that "rocket science expertise" on processors. They couldn't design an SoC to punch themselves out of a wet paper bag.
[doublepost=1561497842][/doublepost]

Eh... I’d think this is high-profile enough to prevent that from happening. That is, assuming Apple or some other legitimate tech company can outbid a patent troll, which should be easy.

Well, Apple did join others (Blackberry, Sony and Microsoft) to pick up Nortel's portfolio. The same thing could happen again.

 

[macduke]

I smell a bidding war, which is exactly what Intel needs right now. AMD's new CPUs are putting a lot of pressure on them.

 

[AlekseiM]

Bet will buy Huawei

 

[JetTester]

It may be better for Apple to build from scratch rather than to start with unsuccessful technology. Buy someone else’s problems, they become your problems, not your solutions.

 

[itguy06]

This won't end well for anyone if a patent troll picks them up.

Why? Doubtful Intel has much 5G IP.

 

[mi7chy]

Sadly this is Apple's MO to BK their partners then pick up their IPs for cheap to send offshore.

 

[rp2011]

My own layman opinion is that a consortium sharing the cost and benefits would probably be for the best. Especially since work and R&D to bring technologies to market, if at all, could be a fortune as well.

 

[xpxp2002]

Intel cellular patents up for auction? I’m in.

Just need to check the couch cushion first.

 

[falainber]

Rocket science? Funny that Qualcomm can't leverage that "rocket science expertise" on processors. They couldn't design an SoC to punch themselves out of a wet paper bag.

What exactly does wireless/cellular tech expertise have to do with processor design? Besides, aren't they the biggest manufacturer of mobile processors?

 

[mdriftmeyer]

What exactly does wireless/cellular tech expertise have to do with processor design? Besides, aren't they the biggest manufacturer of mobile processors?

The Physics is universal and Apple has a massive staff of PhDs. Sorry, but RF Mesh theory is well researched to death at the academic level and Apple's superior SoC design knowledge with CPUs/GPGPUs/T2 chip DSP, now Afterburner FPGA programmable ASIC and more includes the teams talents to build modems. What they don't have is the IP of new implementations in the 5G arena to bring it to market.

 

[realtuner]

What exactly does wireless/cellular tech expertise have to do with processor design? Besides, aren't they the biggest manufacturer of mobile processors?

So? McDonalds is the biggest manufacturer of hamburgers. Doesn’t make them the best.

The Physics is universal and Apple has a massive staff of PhDs. Sorry, but RF Mesh theory is well researched to death at the academic level and Apple's superior SoC design knowledge with CPUs/GPGPUs/T2 chip DSP, now Afterburner FPGA programmable ASIC and more includes the teams talents to build modems. What they don't have is the IP of new implementations in the 5G arena to bring it to market.

Beat me to it.

 

[MacBH928]

it scars me that a company as big and scientifically advanced like Intel can't compete on the 5G cell-modem business so much so they existed a market for 1B devices.

 

[falainber]

So? McDonalds is the biggest manufacturer of hamburgers. Doesn’t make them the best.

Are you trying to say that McDonalds is failing at making and selling hamburgers? Also, do you know any CPU+baseband combo processors (which is what Qualcomm is making) which are better than the ones from Qualcomm? I don't.

 

[realtuner]

Are you trying to say that McDonalds is failing at making and selling hamburgers? Also, do you know any CPU+baseband combo processors (which is what Qualcomm is making) which are better than the ones from Qualcomm? I don't.

Moving the goalposts yet again. I’ll make it simple for you:

• Qualcomm doesn’t design processors - they use ARM designed cores.
• Apple uses a 100% in-house custom processor design that’s compatible with ARMv8 (plus a few Apple extensions).
• Apple cores are vastly superior to any other ARM processor in the plant (including Qualcomm) for IPC, energy efficiency and outright performance.

It’s irrelevant who sells more and I’m not even sure why you’re bringing up sales numbers in response to a comment about processor design.

 

[Bignotsmall]

My iPhone 7 Plus factory unlocked ( Qualcomm) has better reception than my XS, both LTE and WiFi . My iPad 10.5 always pulled faster speed than my 12.9 iPad Pro. Intel Wasn’t doing it right.

 

[dwaite]

Sadly this is Apple's MO to BK their partners then pick up their IPs for cheap to send offshore.

Apple bankrupted Intel?