Qualcomm Acquires Remaining Interest in RF360 Holdings

Qualcomm Acquires Remaining Interest in RF360 Holdings
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Qualcomm announced it is completing the acquisition of the remaining interest in RF360 Holdings, a joint venture with TDK. The joint venture produces RF front-end (RFFE) filters which enable Qualcomm to deliver complete 4G/5G RFFE solutions.

With this acquisition, the company is able to provide customers a complete end-to-end solution from modem to antenna. It is the Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF System, including the world’s first commercial 5G NR sub-6 and mmWave solutions, integrating power amplifiers, filters, multiplexers, antenna tuning, LNAs, switching and envelope tracking products.

This acquisition is the final step to formally bring in-house more than 20 years of expertise in RFFE filtering. Qualcomm now has one of the broadest portfolios of RFFE products, including integrated and discrete micro-acoustic components utilizing filter technologies, all of which are core to developing and producing filters, duplexers, multiplexers for discrete, power amplifiers and diversity modules, as well as n-plexers and extractors for the very complex front end necessary for today’s leading mobile phones and connected devices.

“Our goal in the formation of this joint venture was to enhance Qualcomm’s front-end solutions to enable us to deliver a truly complete solution to the mobile device ecosystem, and we have done exactly that,“ said Cristiano Amon, president of Qualcomm. “We are excited about the strong adoption of Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF Systems in virtually all of our 150+ 5G design wins. I would like to thank our long-time partner TDK. We look forward to continued opportunities to collaborate and to bring leading products from both companies to the market in the years ahead.“

TDK Electronics’ remaining interest in the joint venture was valued at $1.15 billion in August 2019. The total purchase price, including the initial investment, payments to TDK based on sales by the joint venture, and development obligations, will be approximately $3.1 billion.