Soitec (Euronext Paris), a designer and manufacturer of innovative semiconductor materials, today announced it is the first materials supplier to join the China Mobile 5G Innovation Center (“Center”), an international alliance chartered to develop 5G communication solutions for China, the world’s largest wireless communications market with 925M mobile subscribers. Both silicon and non-silicon engineered substrates, in which Soitec is the global leader, are essential in bringing to mass deployment 5G mobile communications for applications including self-driving cars, industrial connectivity and virtual reality.
Founded by China Mobile, the world’s largest operator, the Center aims to accelerate the development of 5G by establishing a cross-industry ecosystem, setting up open labs to create new products and applications, and fostering new business and market opportunities. As the first materials supplier to join the Center, Soitec brings its long-standing worldwide partnerships with R&D Centers, fabless semiconductor companies and foundries.
With ongoing investments and advances in capabilities, assets and SOI technology, Soitec’s RF portfolio is 5G-ready and designed to support deployment of 5G solutions across different regions. Soitec’s portfolio features cost-effective SOI and compound material substrates spanning advanced and established technology nodes optimized to balance performance, power efficiency and integration, in less space. Soitec will further support China Mobile through access to Soitec’s engineered substrate development ecosystem.
“As China Mobile works to bring 5G to market, Soitec’s participation in the China Mobile 5G Innovation Center is focused on accelerating the creation and delivery of market-leading 5G material solutions,” said Thomas Piliszczuk, Executive Vice President of Global Strategy for Soitec. “This is a unique opportunity for Soitec to engage with the world’s largest mobile operator and its ecosystem partners. Engineered substrates give foundries, fabless semiconductor companies and IDMs (integrated device manufacturers) the means to improve performance, power, area and cost (PPAC) while also enabling new applications.”
Soitec engineered substrates have been critical in deployment of 4G communication. RF-SOI material is used in 100 percent of smart phones manufactured today and its surface is growing with each new product generation. Also, FD-SOI brings unique RF performance, making it an ideal solution for many applications including mmWave communications such as 5G transceivers as well as enabling full RF and ultra-low-power computing integration for IoT.