Infineon Introduces World's Smallest 3G Solutions for Cost Efficient HSDPA to High-end HSUPA Phones

May 30, 2008 | Business & Financial Press

Neubiberg, Germany – May 30, 2008 – Infineon Technologies AG (FSE/NYSE: IFX) today announced the availability of its new generation 3G platform family. This new platform family addresses all major 3G market segments and includes a high performance HSPA modem solution, a feature phone solution enriched with high multimedia capabilities and a cost-efficient 3G solution.

This platform family is a further step on Infineon’s integration roadmap: it reduces the number of devices in the chipset from three to two and the component count of a typical platform by 50 per cent. The solutions are based on new members of the X-GOLD™ 61x-series and Infineon’s market leading 3G Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver device, the SMARTi™ UE. The X-GOLD 61x-series are monolithically integrated, low power 65nm baseband devices that include all digital, analog and power management functions.

Infineon’s scalable baseband architecture based on ARM11™, initially introduced at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with 2G-devices (X-GOLD™ 113, X-GOLD™ 213) is now extended to cover the 3G-segment. This gives Infineon’s customers the advantage of a very high degree of software and hardware design reuse over the entire mobile phone portfolio – from GSM to HSPA.

The new 3G-solutions offer the industry’s smallest PCB (printed circuit board) footprint with a space reduction of up to 40 per cent. Furthermore the standby power is reduced by up to 30 per cent compared to existing HSDPA platform solutions.

“Our new platforms enable our customers to fully reuse their hardware and software developments and launch multiple phones covering all feature phone market segments with lower cost and faster time-to-market,” said Prof. Dr. Hermann Eul, Executive Vice President of the Infineon Management Board and President of the Communication Solutions Business Group.

“Given the compelling size of our new Baseband and RF devices and the low component count of our platforms, we are offering the world’s smallest platform footprint, enabling manufacturers to build slim, feature rich HSUPA / HSDPA phones for all 3G market segments.”

Infineon uses its own dual-mode 3GPP release 6 Protocol Stack, which enables the company to provide complete in-house system solutions. Having the ownership of each and every platform component eases completing lab tests (GCF, PTCRB and IOT), field tests and operator approvals on Infineon’s reference platforms, which in turn accelerates customers’ phone projects substantially.

Multiple Platforms Covering the Complete 3G Phone Market Segment

The high performance platform XMM™ 6180 with the X-GOLD™ 618 baseband offers HSDPA/HSUPA capabilities of 7.2Mbps/2.9Mbps, an integrated high-end video accelerator for recording and playback of VGA video content and the ability to connect to cameras with up to 5 MPixels.

The cost-efficient 3G feature phone platform XMM™ 6170 with the X-GOLD™ 617 baseband supports HSDPA 3.6Mbps, recording and playback functionality of QVGA video content and the ability to connect to cameras with 2 MPixels.

The modem platform solution XMM™ 6160 with the X-GOLD™ 616 baseband offers HSDPA/HSUPA capabilities of 7.2Mbps/5.8 Mbps and includes hardware and software interfaces to an application processor or a PC as wireless modem.

All Baseband chips are manufactured in 65nm and packaged with Infineon-pioneered eWLB package technology, resulting in a dimension of 8x8x0.8 mm, which are also pin compatible across all platforms. Additionally, Infineon includes its next generation multi-band RF transceiver chip, SMARTi UE, into all its dual-mode platforms supporting three and four frequency bands for WCDMA and EDGE standards, respectively.

Availability

Verified samples and evaluation boards are available by end of June. Volume production starts in the second half of 2009.

About Infineon

Infineon Technologies AG, Neubiberg, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions addressing three central challenges to modern society: energy efficiency, communications, and security. In the 2007 fiscal year (ending September), the company reported sales of Euro 7.7 billion (including Qimonda sales of Euro 3.6 billion) with approximately 43,000 employees worldwide (including approximately 13,500 Qimonda employees). With a global presence, Infineon operates through its subsidiaries in the U.S. from Milpitas, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore, and in Japan from Tokyo. Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX).

Information Number

INFCOM200805.068

Press Photos

  • The X-GOLD(tm) 61x-series is the heart of Infineon's new 3G platform family, addressing all major 3G market segments.
    The X-GOLD(tm) 61x-series is the heart of Infineon's new 3G platform family, addressing all major 3G market segments.
    X-GOLD_616

    JPG | 1.17 mb | 3543 x 2657 px

  • The X-GOLD(tm) 61x-series is the heart of Infineon's new 3G platform family, addressing all major 3G market segments.
    The X-GOLD(tm) 61x-series is the heart of Infineon's new 3G platform family, addressing all major 3G market segments.
    X-GOLD_617

    JPG | 1.17 mb | 3543 x 2657 px

  • The X-GOLD(tm) 61x-series is the heart of Infineon's new 3G platform family, addressing all major 3G market segments.
    The X-GOLD(tm) 61x-series is the heart of Infineon's new 3G platform family, addressing all major 3G market segments.
    X-GOLD_618

    JPG | 1.17 mb | 3543 x 2657 px