4 Top 5G Chip Makers

One company, Qualcomm, dominated the 5G chipset market in 2022 but that dominance is beginning to see serious competitors staging plans to knock them off their perch.

According to marketandmarket, the 5G chipset market is valued at $2.03 billion in 2020 and expected to reach $22.41 billion by 2026.

With that much dollars at stake, the ballet for the 5G chipset market share is far from done.

Checkout: 5 Top 5G Network Providers (WiFi and Home Internet)

And in this article, I’m going to go over the top four 5G chip makers worldwide. Honestly, there are currently just four major 5G chip makers that are really battling it out for a share of the market.

Companies like Intel, Qorvo, Xilinx and Skyworks Solutions are no serious contenders in this the 5G chipset market.

If you are looking for the leading 5g Chip Makers, here are 4 top 5G chip makers:

1. Qualcomm

As it stands, the 5G chipset market is for Qualcomm to lose: The entire market, from Mobile to Self-driving 5G chipset. They have 5G chips for mobile platforms, PCs, Automotive Platforms, and Networking/Fixed Wireless Access.

From a product standpoint, Qualcomm is the king of the 5G chipset market and analyst are expecting the 5G rollout to be the long term catalyst for Qualcomm stock.

Brad Moon, an Investorsplce contributor, puts it this way “once the 5G rollout is complete, Qualcomm stock is all set”.

As 5G phones are beginning to rollout in 2020, it seems like almost every major phone maker has signed up for Qualcomm’s 5G chips. Their vendors’ list is deep, they have almost every major player in their books.
Qualcomm has vendors like Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Vivo, ASUS, Black Shark, Fujitsu, Lenovo, ZTE, Xiaomi, Redmi, OPPO, iQOO, Nubia and realme all signed up to use their Snapdragon 865 5G chipset in their devices that are entering the market this year (2020).

Qualcomm knows that their current position in the 5G chipset market and are pulling lots of strings to maintain it for as long as possible.

The company has announced a range of new 5G and Wi-Fi 6 R&D projects as they seek to cement their position in the future market by having better range of chipsets.

5G technology is expected to explode the self-driving market as a catalyst, in anticipation, Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon Automotive 5G platform in conjunction with the 9150 C-V2X ASIC 5G chipset.

As long as the 5G chipset market goes, Qualcomm are not just doing everything right product-wise, they are dominating the market commandingly.

2. MediaTek

The Taiwanese chip maker are genuinely and strongly making a name for themselves in the 5G chipset market, especially with their Dimensity 800 5G series chipset for mid-range 5G phone with cheaper pricing.

MediaTek are literally aiming to give Qualcomm a run for their money, turning the competition into a price competition.

The processor supplier, MediaTek, are quite smart in their approach, choosing to go after a niche market (mid-range phones) in a bid to penetrate the broader market strongly.

Currently they are the only chip maker whose primary business is chip making that standout as a competition to Qualcomm’s 5G chipset market dominance.

Their position is also helped by the fact that Huawei’s 5G chips for mobile stands no serious market penetration chance in the West, as pressure from the US government piles up on Huawei.

Late last year, Intel picked MediaTek as its partner to make 5G PC modems; MediaTek will be their 5G chip suppliers in that regard. With Dell and HP as early customers of their partnership.

MediaTek with their Dimensity 800 5G chips have something strong in their playbook.

3. Samsung

Samsung wants a lot of pieces of the 5G pie; they are not contented with selling 5G devices and providing 5G Networking Infrastructures, they also want a piece the 5G chipset pie too.

The Exynos 980, an all-in-one 5G chip, is Samsung’s first 5G integrated mobile processor, it combines connectivity with an integrated 5G modem and intelligent processing performance in a single chip.

This 5G chip is Samsung’s major move to challenge Qualcomm’s market dominance and their target with Exynos 980 is the mid-range mobile market.

A big win for Samsung came when Vivo (China’s leading 5G smartphone vendor and the third ranked in India) confirmed it has selected Samsung’s Exynos 980 to power its X30 smartphone. This is the first Samsung’s 5G chip to be selected for a non-Samsung 5G smartphone, pointing out that Samsung 5G chips can travel far beyond Samsung’s smartphones.

In the global market, Samsung is growing as a strong competition to Qualcomm. Although wining Vivo does not seem threatening to Qualcomm’s dominance, it sure a step in the right direction for Samsung.

4. Huawei

Huawei could have done much better in the 5G chipset market than its currently doing as a result of their issues with the US government.

However, they pushed through the launch of the Huawei Mate 30 Pro having what they claimed to be “the most powerful 5G chipset”, the Kirin 990, an all-in-one 5G system on a chip.

Richard Yu, Head of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, also called the Kirin 990 chipset “the world’s most powerful 5G modem”. Credit to Huawei, Kirin 990 chipset is the first to have a 5G modem, however, the company are struggling to stage a genuine hold on the 5G chipset market, especially beyond the Great Wall of China.

Qualcomm’s position is highly important to the US in the 5G race, and competitions from Huawei, seemingly, is not just a competition between companies, it is also one between countries.