Most industry watchers expect demand for 5G chipsets to pick up sometime in the second half of 2018, when a majority of business opportunities related to next-generation network rollouts are expected to appear in the form of smartphones and tablets, home modems and IoT devices. Last year, the FCC approved spectrum plans for 5G networks in the 28GHz, 37GHz and 39GHz bands on July 14, 2016 and now several vendors are expected to announce chipsets about six to eight months in advance of the first consumer products that are scheduled to appear in early 2018.
Intel and Qualcomm are first, followed by Samsung
Intel and Qualcomm announced their first 5G chipsets during CES this year that can transmit in both the high-frequency 28GHz band being tested in the US in Korea, along with the lower 3.3GHz to 4.2GHz bands planned for Europe and China. Intel also said it will ship one SKU that supports different 5G spectrums worldwide and will begin sampling in the second half of 2017.
Though Samsung has yet to make an announcement regarding its 5G chipsets, the company is expected to release comparable chips during the same timeframe. MediaTek, Qualcomm and Spreadtrum Communications are also expected to have their own 5G mobile chipsets ready for use in next year’s smartphone device lineups, though the companies may introduce samples by the end of this year.
Limited 5G rollouts in 2017
In the run up to some of the first 5G mobile products arriving next year, semiconductor manufacturers, including Samsung and TSMC, are expected to develop chipsets supporting the next-generation networks using 10nm to 14nm process nodes and based on low-power process technology. For now, most entry-level to mid-range devices arriving throughout 2017 are expected to use 14 to 16nm process nodes, rather than existing 28nm designs.
With most telecom carriers invested heavily in existing 4G LTE networks, it may take some time before investment resources are available to begin deploying 5G networks for at least another 18 months. A few weeks ago, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint each announced that they would have gigabit commercial 3GPP 5G deployments available at “some cell sites” in the US in 2017, though these limited rollouts will likely happen during the second half of the year.
5G networks are expected to support low-throughput, low-frequency data that will be especially useful for Internet of Things devices, enabling some of them to run for years without a battery recharge or replacement. The networks will also be capable of handling significantly more devices on a single tower simultaneously. One notable feature, called Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), will carry over from existing 4.5G LTE deployments and enables traffic to be distributed across both licensed and unlicensed bands (when they are being lightly used) for higher throughput and lower latency. This provides enhanced uplink and downlink aggregation and gives users at least twice the indoor coverage area.
