Comment by ACCount37
3 months ago
Qualcomm has a massive "value add" because they own the modem. As well as a doom stack of patents on all things cellular.
You need a modem if you want to make a smartphone. And Qualcomm makes sure to, first, make some parts of the modem a part of their SoC, and second, never give a better deal on a standalone modem than on a modem and SoC combo.
Sure, AMD could make their own modem, but it took Apple ages to develop a modem in-house. And AMD could partner with someone like Mediatek and use their hardware - but, again, that would require Mediatek to prop up their competition in SoC space, so, don't expect good deals.
Not every scenario for such chips is a smartphone, but as you said, AMD could as well develop their own modem.
I would prefer them to start with WiFi though, since Intel made their latest chips impossible to use with AMD CPUs.
The problem is whether it's worth doing. As opposed to: putting the same amount of effort into CPU/GPU/NPU development and getting a better return.
> AMD could as well develop their own modem.
That didn't work out well when Intel tried it.
What exactly went wrong?
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