Leveraging 5G as a technological leverage, Qualcomm drives innovation

Qualcomm drives innovation with 5G technology

In the eyes of economists, the economic development of human society cannot be separated from “general-purpose technologies”. For example, steam technology has given rise to basic transportation networks, electricity technology has given rise to power transmission networks, and the internet has given rise to modern communication networks. Through these examples, it is not difficult to see that technologies that can be labeled as “general-purpose technologies” not only drive the development of human society but are also closely related to our daily lives.

Entering the 21st century, more and more new technologies have emerged, but there are not many that can truly be called “general-purpose technologies”. However, 5G, with its three new features of ultra-large bandwidth, ultra-wide connectivity, and ultra-low latency, will promote mobile communication from weak to strong and penetrate comprehensively from the consumer side to the production side, becoming the new generation of general-purpose technology.

Under the promotion of 5G technology, the digital transformation of enterprises has been significantly improved, reducing costs and increasing efficiency while greatly enhancing the customer experience.

In fact, as a “general-purpose technology”, its development almost follows the two-stage change from nothing to existence and from weak to strong. Looking at 5G technology according to this law, it has already crossed the stage from nothing to existence. According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, as of May this year, the total number of 5G base stations in China reached 2.844 million, accounting for 25.3% of the total number of mobile base stations, and the coverage rate of administrative regions at or above the county level reached 100%.

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With the continuous improvement of 5G infrastructure, a digital era is gradually emerging in front of us, with more and more emerging digital demands, which poses more and more challenges to 5G technology.

In the background of the rising demand for transmission speed and the announcement of the freeze of the 5G Rel-17 standard, the development of 5G has entered a new stage, namely the 5G-Advanced stage.

Therefore, fully utilizing technological advantages and evolving 5G capabilities in infrastructure and terminal devices, etc., continuously promoting the evolution and expansion of 5G technology has become the core competitiveness of wireless communication technology companies.

For example, in October 2016, Qualcomm launched the world’s first 5G modem – Snapdragon X50, which was favored by 18 mobile operators worldwide as soon as it was released; and then the first 7nm baseband chip Snapdragon X55 achieved support for 5G millimeter wave and sub-6GHz frequency bands; thanks to Qualcomm’s leading 5G connectivity technology, it has also become the basis for major mobile phone manufacturers to build smartphones based on Snapdragon 5G chips. In addition, Qualcomm also provides 5G technology support for related companies in the fields of automotive, computing, and industrial IoT.

For Qualcomm, the experience accumulated in the communication industry over the years has made it well aware of the importance of transmission speed. Therefore, precise insight into customer needs and rapid development and iteration are the key to its success. In February 2023, Qualcomm released the new Snapdragon 5G modem and RF system – Snapdragon X75. It is also the world’s first 5G Advanced-ready modem and RF system.

Its appearance once again raises the upper limit of 5G transmission speed. According to recent data released by Qualcomm, Snapdragon X75 has achieved up to 7.5Gbps downlink transmission speed in Sub-6GHz, creating the world’s fastest 5G transmission speed record in the Sub-6GHz frequency band.

Prior to this, Ma Dejia, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Technology, Planning, and Edge Solutions Business at Qualcomm Technology Company, has stated, “Our focus is on improving the average data transfer rate and achieving higher peak data transfer rates more flexibly, rather than just talking about peak rates.”

Therefore, to realize the full potential of 5G and make full use of its rich features, it is necessary to utilize the higher frequency and more abundant millimeter wave spectrum resources.

Currently, Snapdragon X75 has more comprehensive feature upgrades beyond transmission speed. For example, in the Sub-6GHz band, it supports downlink five-carrier aggregation for the first time, FDD+FDD uplink carrier aggregation, and FDD uplink MIMO, supporting higher-order 1024QAM. In the millimeter wave band, Snapdragon X75 supports ten single-carrier aggregation and supports 256QAM based on ten carriers.

In addition, the coverage band of Snapdragon X75 is more comprehensive. It supports the Sub-6GHz band from 600MHz to 7GHz, as well as the millimeter wave band from 24GHz to 41GHz, meeting the flexibility needs of telecommunications operators.

Today, the external environment is changing rapidly, and the customer demands it faces are also changing rapidly.

In the face of these complex demands, Qualcomm has set a solution mainly based on hybrid AI and will implement it. In fact, Qualcomm’s layout in AI started early, and the Snapdragon X65 5G modem and RF system launched in 2021 first incorporated AI capabilities into its feature map, giving it the world’s first AI antenna tuning technology, which greatly improves the performance and energy efficiency of cellular technology. The Snapdragon X70 released in 2022 further achieved features such as AI-assisted channel state feedback and dynamic optimization, the world’s first AI-assisted millimeter wave beam management, AI-assisted network selection, and AI-assisted adaptive antenna tuning through the addition of the Qualcomm 5G AI kit.

By empowering products with AI capabilities, Qualcomm takes the lead in the 5G era. For example, in the current surge of generative AI, Qualcomm’s hybrid AI architecture is almost applicable to all generative AI applications and terminal fields. Now, Qualcomm is able to run large models with over 1.5 billion parameters on mobile phones without relying on the cloud.

Turning our focus to the Snapdragon X75, its AI processing capabilities are more than 2.5 times that of the first generation. Combined with the second generation Qualcomm 5G AI Suite, it can achieve higher connection speeds, mobility, link stability, positioning accuracy, and wider network coverage.

In addition, the Snapdragon X75 has made innovations in extending battery life, satellite communication, and AI-enhanced positioning accuracy.

The comprehensive improvement in chip capabilities also demonstrates the “amplification” effect of Qualcomm’s technological leverage. By strengthening product coverage in terms of bands and AI capabilities, it enhances product usability and boundary, allowing Qualcomm to better undertake current business and leave room for future development.

As the development of the 5G industry continues to accelerate, the expectations of more people are directed towards the interconnection and intelligence of all things. Ultimately, to achieve this vision, it requires the chemical effect of integrating and stacking communication technology with more technologies.

With the gradual improvement of 5G infrastructure, the first phase of 5G has basically come to an end, and the industry has ushered in a brand new era of 5G-Advanced. In this stage, the requirements for 5G in terms of transmission speed, spectrum efficiency, stability, network capacity, etc. will be even more demanding.

Looking back, Qualcomm has provided good technical support for the 5G-Advanced era through the maximum transmission speed limit and the release of AI capabilities at the product level of the Snapdragon X75.

In fact, since the commercialization of 5G, Qualcomm is the only company in the world that iterates its 5G modem every year. This continuous innovation and breakthroughs have accumulated a large amount of technology and continuously meet the industry’s demand for 5G networks, leading the advancement of 5G technology.

Building upon a solid technological foundation, Qualcomm, which increasingly understands the industry and can meet industry demands, is also leveraging “technological leverage” to drive the development of 5G by supporting technological innovations in industries such as smartphones, automobiles, and the Internet of Things (IoT). This is driving businesses towards comprehensive progress in the digital era.

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