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."
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
