Signalchip on Wednesday unveiled India’s first semiconductor chips for 4G/LTE and 5G NR modems
Bengaluru-based semiconductor firm Signalchip created a breakthrough in chipset-level innovation after eight-year long research and development (R&D) activities in multiple complex domains.
The company on Wednesday unveiled India’s first semiconductor chips for 4G/LTE and 5G NR modems.
The company launched four chips as part of its SCBM34XX and SCRF34XX/45XX series, code-named ‘Agumbe’.
Telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan, who unveiled the chips, hailed the achievement and announced that India has joined an elite club of nations with chipset-level innovation, ET reported.
She called it extraordinary that a local firm has come forward and launched India’s first in-house chips.
This is a pioneering innovation, Sundararajan said, adding that only eight companies worldwide have capabilities to design semiconductor chips.
The Agumbe series
The four chips launched under this series include SCBM3412 (single chip 4G/LTE modem), SCBM3404 (single chip 4X4 LTE), SCRF3402 (2X2 transceiver for LTE) and SCRF4502 (2X2 transceiver for 5G NR standards). The chips also support positioning using India’s own satellite navigation system, NAVIC.
The RF sections cover all LTE/5G-NR bands upto 6GHz, the company said.
The Agumbe series builds up on SCRF1401 which was supposedly India’s first RF transceiver chip for high performance wireless standards like 3G/4G and WiFi, created by Signalchip in 2015.
According to Signalchip, the chips are optimally designed to support evolving network architectures like Open RAN/CRAN with flexible interface configurations.
Himamshu Khasnis, founder and CEO of Signalchip, explained that since Silicon chip design is a very challenging activity requiring high-cost R&D, deep knowhow and mastery of multiple complex domains, this technology is not available in most countries.
