Qualcomm has become a mobile processor upstart

Qualcomm is a family business founded in 1985, and talking about Qualcomm, it's easy to talk about two other companies: Intel and MediaTek. One of them is the boss of the computer microprocessor, and the other is the king of the cottage machine. And they will be the main players in the Smartphone processor field.

Currently, Qualcomm has become a mobile processor upstart, market capitalisation even beyond Intel, but the study of Intel's marketing is quietly, for MediaTek, Qualcomm also through the introduction of a reference design strategy, and thus achieve a perfect combination of speed and quality.

Marketing Intel

Starting with the 骁丽 Dragon S4 series, Qualcomm began dividing the processor platform from low to high to 4 different levels--S4 Play (entry level), S4 Plus (mainstream), S4 Pro (High performance), and S4 Prime (Smart TV), and produced a series of ads for it to put on the media. Qualcomm hopes to let consumers know about the 骁丽 Dragon processor in their smartphones.

Are you familiar with this move? Yes, the originator of Intel's classic Intel Inside series marketing.

Intel officially launched the "Intel Inside" series of global marketing plans in the early 90 of the late 80. The plan comes from an engineer with a Stanford MBA, Dennis Carter's idea. Through "Intel Inside" marketing, the consumer remembers the "lights, lights and other lights" Advertising background melody Music, and remember the Intel brand. Intel has successfully turned the invisible computer microprocessor into a popular consumer product.

Of course, the division of Intel's processor i3, i5, i7. Qualcomm Lesser. Because the Arabic numerals are universal, no national boundaries, a look at the size of the figure to understand which processor performance is better, and for non-English-speaking consumers, to understand S4 these four levels, I am afraid it will take some effort.

Qrd,qualcomm Reference Design, Qualcomm reference designs

Strategy MediaTek

At the end of 2011, Qualcomm launched the QRD (Qualcomm Reference Design, Qualcomm Reference designs) program for the Gigabit Android mobile phone market, a qrd that can be seen as a one-stop solution to Learning MediaTek's Turn-key (turnkey).

By Turn-key, handset makers only need to buy simple components such as screens, cameras, shells, keyboards, and so on, and assemble them on a motherboard provided by MediaTek, which can be produced in 3-6 months. In other words, software, hardware, UI, testing, integration, optimization, and so on are all covered by MediaTek.

Qualcomm claims that through the QRD program, terminal companies can develop a differentiated competitive advantage of Android smartphones within 60 days (2 months) or less. Of course, in the cost of down (to reduce costs), Qualcomm is not a hit Taiwanese enterprises MediaTek, why? Speaking of saving money, who can be more powerful than Chinese?

Qualcomm did not learn: own wafer factory

Qualcomm didn't learn.

Millet cell phone again out of stock? In fact, this is not entirely the fault of Millet, which also has the reason for Qualcomm. Because Qualcomm does not have its own wafer factory, production capacity often cannot keep pace with market demand. From the high-pass results can be seen, because TSMC capacity is insufficient, Qualcomm had to find another UMC and from AMD separated from the globalfoundries, such as wafer foundry Day long S4 chip. Without its own wafer factory (FAB), has become Qualcomm's largest short plate. Intel has little capacity problems. And MediaTek, don't forget that he was split from the UMC, one of Taiwan's foundry workers.

Apart from capacity, its own fab can also help chip companies to achieve higher levels of technology, such as Intel's mobile processor atom will be upgraded to 22 nm in the fourth quarter of this year. and Gaotong long S4, the highest still only reached 28 nm process.

Wafer Factory is a capital-intensive industry, from investment to the completion of a wafer factory, requires at least 1 billion dollars and more large sums of money, but also need talent and technology, and 2-3 years of time. For Qualcomm, money is not a problem, talent and technology may not be a problem, 2-3 years is the biggest problem. Qualcomm is now in the ascendant, but 2-3 years later, there is no one.

Qualcomm CEO Jacob has long said Qualcomm will keep the fabless, noting that even Intel has a problem with spare capacity. In contrast, Intel also said that the pattern of the wafer-less manufacturers had come to an end and that the foundry model was collapsing. And scoff at Qualcomm's inability to get on the 22 nm process. The public is right, the woman said the woman is reasonable, who can laugh to the end, let us wait and see.