Qualcomm Introduces Industry’s First Wave 2 802.11ac Wi-Fi System-on-Chip for Routers, Gateways and Access Points

Fully Integrated, Single Chip Incorporates Next Generation Qualcomm Internet Processor

SAN DIEGO

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) through its subsidiary, Qualcomm Atheros, Inc., today introduced the industry’s first fully integrated, smart gateway system-on-chip (SoC) incorporating its next generation Qualcomm® Internet Processor (IPQ), Qualcomm® VIVE™ with Qualcomm® MU | EFX MU-MIMO technology, built-in Gigabit Ethernet, Qualcomm® StreamBoost™, with support for dual band simultaneous (DBS) transmission and LTE backhaul.

The IPQ40x8/x9 SoC will be the basis for a wide variety of applications and services, including home routers, enterprise access points, hotspots, carrier LTE gateways and range extenders. This fully integrated solution will provide for cost-effective development while ensuring top-of-the-line network performance and efficiency.

The IPQ40x8/x9 integrates two 2x2 radios capable of up to 1.73 Gbps maximum PHY rate, a quad-core ARM CPU and a Gigabit Ethernet switch onto the same silicon chip. As the industry’s first fully integrated Wave 2 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi® solution, the IPQ40x8/x9 is a cost, size and power-effective solution that enables original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to bring 11ac benefits to mainstream segments. Additionally, IPQ40x8/x9 has the flexibility to configure its radios for traditional 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz dual band simultaneous operation, or both configured to 5 GHz band for single-band simultaneous or range extender operation.

Platforms based on the IPQ40x8/x9 are highly configurable with USB3.0, PCIe, SD/eMMC, Ethernet and LTE interfaces, making them suitable for a large number of use cases, including smart home gateways and Internet-of-Everything hubs, to residential consumer premises equipment (CPE), to Wi-Fi backhaul equipment, to LTE gateways.

“With the introduction of this groundbreaking system-on-chip, Qualcomm Atheros is creating a new level of smart gateway that is cost optimized for OEMs and fully featured for carriers, and brings 11ac Wave-2 performance to enterprises and retail applications alike,” said Tony Hsu, senior director of product management, Qualcomm Atheros, Inc. “We are very excited about extending our leadership in Wi-Fi innovation to new products. This next generation of smart gateways are designed to make it easier and more affordable for OEMs to offer top-of-the-line features to a wider range of consumers.”

The IPQ40x8/x9 is sampling to key customers now and is expected to be in mass production in first quarter 2016.