Following in the footsteps of Samsung, Lenovo, Xiaomi and ZTE are allegedly gearing up to create their own mobile SoCs.
According to a report from Taiwan-based publication DigiTimes, ZTE, Lenovo and Xiaomi intend to release their own ARM-based mobile chipsets in the near term. The publication cites industry sources and reveals that ZTE has gotten cash funding from the Chinese government, which will enable it to hasten the production of its SoCs.
ZTE has apparently received close to $73.9 million in funding from the country's National IC Industry Investment Fund to develop in-house chipsets per the site's sources.
The publication's sources also reveal that Lenovo also has plans to "develop ARM-based chips in-house."
Not far behind in the in-house chipset production race is Xiaomi which is also looking to create SoCs based on the ARM architecture. The Chinese company is purportedly teaming up with Leadcore Technology for the purpose.
"Xiaomi is partnering with chip designer Leadcore Technology to jointly develop ARM-based SoCs for Xiaomi's devices available for 2016, the sources note," per DigiTimes' report.
With more and more China-based companies looking to develop their in-house chipsets, the balance could be shifting in the future and chipset manufacturers such as Qualcomm could well be facing the heat as its market dominance is tested.
In 2015, San Diego-based Qualcomm saw a reduction in shipments and considering its parted ways from Samsung, the chipset maker could see further dips.
Whether Lenovo, Xiaomi and ZTE would be able to get the in-house chipset right remains to be seen as designing is a tedious procedure and can take several years to perfect.
If the in-house SoCs from Xiaomi, ZTE and Lenovo see the light of the day soon, the competition in the chipset market will undoubtedly heat up and China could potentially be set to assert its dominance in this sphere as well.
Photo: Davis Mosans | Flickr
