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Sep. 1, 2008

First announced in January of last year as a way to further increase its share of the U.S. mobile chip market, Toshiba is now looking into more ways to further expand its Mobile Strategic Initiative.

Andrew Burt, v.p. of the company’s imaging and communications marketing group says "to this date, Toshiba has contributed technology for components such as NAND flash memory, display controllers, CMOS image sensors and support for the MDDI and MIPI de facto industry standards for mobile phone design."

The original plan of Toshiba America’s Electronic Components division was to take 12 to 15 months launching new products to American handset makers.

Toshiba' plan expanded into loose partnerships with rival chip builders Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, based on the handset company’s demands for tighter integration and lower prices.

Now, Toshiba is planning to participate in more interoperability tests and to co-develop more reference boards that combine all of the partners’ technology.

Burt added “the interest level is very high, the acceptance is looking good for this cooperation. Now we’re looking to discuss with the customer base what other chipsets or what other next-generation technology they want.”

“The trickiest demand they have now is price points. As a semiconductor manufacturer, we think we can make almost anything,” Burt said.

Of sharing technology that closely with competitors, he noted, “it’s something we’ve had to work at getting used to, especially with such a competitive market.”

It is now possible that Toshiba may consider bringing in even more partners and competitors because customers continue to find that agreeable, Burt said.

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Source: Toshiba.