Editing by Kate Yuan

Qualcomm organized a ceremony in late May to mark the start of its 2^nd phase expansion of a packaging and test facility in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, facilitating more of its RF businesses in China and the world.  

Meng Pu, chairman of Qualcomm China, attended the ceremony on May 28 and said the construction of this project meant a lot to his company. The American telecom chip giant’s production company is called “RF360 Technology (Wuxi) Co., Ltd.” Qualcomm inherited the Wuxi facility from Singapore RF360 Company after acquiring it in September 2019. Thanks to this acquisition, Qualcomm strengthened and expanded its coverage of FR technologies just before the rollout of commercial use of 5G, promoting more use of the technology.

According to Zhou Xiaohui, general manager of Qualcomm’s Wuxi RF360 company, it focuses on packaging and testing. With filter products becoming more integrated and miniaturized, “We can provide different packaging solutions based on different product categories and technologies.”

Wuxi RF360 has actually over 20-year history. It started in 2000 as a joint venture between Siemens and Panasonic, specializing in the R&D and production of filter products. It then changed in 2006 to an EPCOS company, the world’s leading component manufacturer. In 2008, EPCOS was acquired by the Japanese TDK, and the Wuxi company went to TDK. In 2017, Qualcomm established RF360 Holdings Singapore Pte with TDK. In September 2019, Qualcomm acquired the shares held by TDK in RF360 Singapore for US$3.1 billion, Wuxi  RF360 became its only production base in China.

Wuxi RF360 focuses on back-end packaging and testing and currently has 2,000 employees. Although it has changed its owners multiple times, its technologies in filters have been strengthened through years of accumulation, laying a solid foundation for Qualcomm to develop the RFFE market.

Zhou revealed that one of RF360’s strengths is the ability to provide solutions with a smaller size. The smallest size of mass-produced industrialized products has reached 0.6×0.7 mm. RF360 is now developing a front-end packaging technology with higher technological requirements for bare chips, enabling smaller products.

Wuxi RF360’s products are used primarily in mobile communications, involving mobile phones, computers, pads, and laptops. In automotive electronics, RF360 mainly focuses on tire pressure monitoring, safety, and car key RF. It also  includes RF modules for 4G/5G base station.

RF360 earned US$720 million last year, an essential contributor to Qualcomm’s RF business. Qualcomm’s RFFE business gained US$2.362 billion in the fiscal year 2020, with discrete devices and module products each taking up half of the revenue.

The Wuxi RF360’s 2^nd phase project covers 20,000 square meters and is scheduled for completion in mid-2022 and starts trial production in early 2023.

This expansion project fully demonstrates that Qualcomm attaches great importance to the RF business, said Zhou Xiaohui. From last October to March this year, the global revenue of Qualcomm’s RF chip business has reached US$2 billion in the first half of the 2021 fiscal year. The RF business has become an essential part of promoting Qualcomm’s development in 5G and other businesses. China is expected to become the world’s largest 5G market.