Samsung has shipped over 36,000 5G base stations

Samsung Electronics completed the development of its5G mmWave chipsets – comprised of Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFICs) and Digital/Analog Front End (DAFE) Application-specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) -- supporting 28GHz and 39GHz bands. The company said its chipset design, which is based on 28nm CMOS technology, enables about 25 percent reduction in size, weight and power consumption for 5G base stations when compared to the previous iterations.

Samsung’s new RFICs operate on bandwidths that have been expanded to a maximum 1.4GHz, compared to 800MHz for previous RFICs. The size of RFIC is reduced by 36 percent and overall performance is enhanced by decreasing the noise level and improving the linearity characteristics of the RF power amplifier. Samsung has developed RFIC solutions for 28GHz and 39GHz and plans to commercialize additional RFICs for 24GHz and 47GHz this year, allowing further expansions into markets that will use these higher frequency bands.

Samsung's DAFE ASIC provides analog-to-digital conversions and vice versa. The 5G DAFE manages large bandwidths of many that are hundreds of MHz and developing an ASIC allows for the reduction in size and power consumption of 5G base stations. Without investing in ASICs, the DAFE on its own would be too big and power insufficient to meet the product needs of carriers.

“Our breakthroughs in 5G R&D have been key driving forces behind successful 5G commercial services across the U.S. and Korea in 2018, with over 36,000 5G base station shipments,” said Paul Kyungwhoon Cheun, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. "At the forefront of ushering in the 4th Industrial Revolution, Samsung will continue to accelerate 5G commercialization, ultimately impacting industries and everyday lives by offering low latency, ultra-high speed, and massive connectivity.”

The company also noted that it has shipped over 36,000 5G base stations as of February.