Unisoc Benefits From a Better Connected World

Unisoc, previously known as Spreadtrum, is a major player in the low-end SoC market for emerging markets. Many entry-level phones from Itel and Samsung use their chips.

Unisoc is also using Endura’s power technologies to lower BOM costs and improve performance in their latest high-end processor series. This is a great move!

Value

UNISOC is a Chinese fabless semiconductor company that makes mobile processors. Their chips are used in smartphones made by HONOR, Samsung, Motorola, Hisense, and vivo. The company competes with Qualcomm Inc and MediaTek Inc. Its chipsets are also used in IoT devices like smart speakers and lights. UNISOC believes that scientific and technological development should improve people’s lives. It promotes green travel and sustainable development through its innovations.

Originally known as Spreadtrum, the company was founded in 1996. They started out making SoCs for Entry level phones and gained popularity in South East Asia. They also helped a lot of local phone manufacturers make their own smartphones.

However, things changed in 2017. Intel showed interest in the company and invested 1.5 billion. This gave the company the resources to set its sights higher. They acquired a license from Intel and created two SoCs that were powered by the Intel Airmont CPU cores. Unfortunately, these chips flopped and the company went back to using ARM designs.

Future

As a global leader in 5G communication chip design, Unisoc enables a better connected world. Their mobile communication central processors and baseband chips help deliver rich multimedia functionality, power management, and security. They also develop AVS audio/video decoder chips for broadcast television.

Spreadtrum began life as a company that focused solely on entry-level cellphones, aiming to dominate the Chinese market. While this strategy worked in the short term, it was unable to withstand the rapid growth of the smartphone industry.

Following the acquisition by Tsinghua Unigroup in 2017, Spreadtrum decided to kiss the entry level market good bye and refocus on its core strengths. Currently, the firm is one of the top three 4G baseband companies in the world, according to Strategy Analytics. Its latest chip, TIGER T117, is designed to speed up the migration from 2G to 4G and includes support for both NSA and SA modes. It will be available in mass production in 2022.

Service

The fundamental goal of scientific and technological development is to serve mankind. Aircraft and automobiles enable mankind to travel long distances, medical developments help fight diseases and communication technology enables people to connect with each other.

UNISOC’s chip solutions can improve a wide variety of devices, from mobile phones and tablets to IoT products. UNISOC’s MAKALUT 2.0 is the world’s first 5G modem that can improve community uplink coverage by more than 100% through carrier aggregation and upstream and downstream decoupling technologies.

The company’s chipset TIGER T117 can speed up the migration of 2G/3G networks to 4G. Moreover, UNISOC’s TANGULA series has made the company relevant once again in the 5G scene. Besides, their new low power design architecture and AI-based technology will give them a chance to stand out among the competition. However, a security flaw discovered by Check Point Research makes phones using the company’s processors more vulnerable to hacking. This could make the devices less secure and may lead to personal data leakage.

Humanity

UNISOC believes the fundamental goal of scientific and technological development is to serve mankind and contribute to a better future. For example, aircraft technology helps mankind travel long distances; medical development enables people to fight against diseases; and communication technology empowers mankind to connect with each other and the world around them.

For instance, the Unisoc chipset is enabling millions of Indian consumers to experience a smartphone with stunning photography capabilities previously reserved for higher-end models. With the segment-leading Unisoc T612 chip, realme smartphones are capable of shooting high-resolution pictures and videos while delivering powerful performance for smooth multitasking, faster app launches and seamless gaming experiences.

Similarly, UNISOC has helped Africans move into the digital era by developing phones with mobile payment functions; in Thailand, UNISOC and local brands jointly developed tablet products to help students access online learning opportunities. And with 5G, UNISOC is opening up an era of intelligent connectivity for everyone.