For speed freaks, tech giant Apple couldn’t resist announcing its first 5G-enabled iPhone in October 2020. The iPhone 12 lineup and all iPhone 13 models support the super-fast 5G network thanks to Qualcomm, Apple’s exclusive supplier of 5G modem chips. Well, at least until late 2023, the Tim Cook-led company plans to maintain its strong speeds with its own modems produced in collaboration with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC). Rumors suggest that Apple’s in-house 5G network will be used in next year’s iPhone 15.
Google unveiled its first 5G smartphone a little late, in October 2020, when Samsung and most other competitors had already launched 5G devices on the market. The Pixel 5 joined the 5G wireless standard, which promises speeds 10 to 100 times faster than 4G cellular networks. Since then, the search giant has released a new model, the Pixel 6, with different sizes and features. But wait, that’s not all. Google is working on its latest 5G smartphone, the Pixel 7, which will be powered by the next-generation Google Tensor processor and feature Android 13. Google’s foray into 5G smartphones marks a deeper expansion into the brand’s hardware.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (Taiwan Semi) is the world’s largest contract semiconductor manufacturer, with a 50% share of the global semiconductor foundry market. In other words, the company is challenging Samsung for the top spot in the industry. In fact, Samsung is so reluctant to come back that it has revamped its management team and replaced 12 senior executives. As Apple is the best-selling smartphone by unit sales and requires a fast CPU supply, Taiwan Semiconductor is in negotiations with the tech giant to equip its latest iPhone models with 5G capabilities, starting with the iPhone 15, which is scheduled to be released in the second half of 2023.
Verizon, led by CEO Hans Vestberg, was one of the first telecommunications companies to build a 5G network. The company established the 5G Technology Forum as early as 2015 as part of its efforts to bring the world closer to superfast networks. In 2019, the US carrier introduced 5G mobile services in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis, transforming the $190 billion company into a pioneer in the 5G era. A year later, South Korean giant Samsung signed a $6.6 billion deal with Verizon to supply wireless communication equipment and build a 5G network across the US until the end of 2025. The mobile operator has had a tough first half of 2022 as it struggles to attract cash-strapped customers.
Intel, the largest U.S. chipmaker by revenue, has long been exploring the 5G space. The company claimed to have developed the world’s first global 5G modem in 2017, and has since gradually opened up to the emerging network technology. In 2022, the chipmaker quietly acquired private 5G network provider Ananki, although terms of the deal were not disclosed. Intel, with a market capitalization of about $120 billion, saw its stock price fall more than 30% in the first half of 2022, underperforming the overall technology industry. These ultra-fast, ultra-wideband wireless connections should start bringing in more revenue.
T-Mobile US, one of the largest wireless carriers in the United States, has been keeping an eye on 5G technology since it first announced plans to enter the field in 2017. The company jumped on the bandwagon and soon after launched 5G in over 5,000 US cities in December 2019, becoming the first carrier to roll out a nationwide 5G network. By early 2022, T-Mobile had expanded its super-fast 5G service in the form of home internet to over 10 million homes. The company expects reliable home broadband for a robust work-from-home culture: By 2025, T-Mobile predicts that 22% of Americans will be working from their couches.
Wireless communications giant AT&T introduced 5G services in the United States in the summer of 2020, about six months after rival T-Mobile rolled out its own 5G network. AT&T introduced a 4G pricing plan called 5G Evolution, which competitors called #Fake5G, a confusing move. To keep up with the race for next-generation technology, AT&T is expanding its already extensive fiber optic network. The wireless carrier is looking to build more fiber optics than any of its competitors. In mid-2022, AT&T began adding 350 customer locations per hour across the United States, a move that aims to cover 30 million locations with its fiber optic network by the end of 2025.
Nvidia isn’t your typical 5G company. You probably associate it with Reddit meme stocks and cryptocurrency mining. But the company isn’t just one thing. Nvidia is aiming to be a 5G game changer, so to speak. The chip manufacturing giant is building a platform that brings together AI and 5G. AI-on-5G is designed to accelerate digital transformation and value creation for both businesses and individuals. The combination will deliver an integrated, GPU-powered, software-defined computing platform that’s ready to launch smart cities, security systems, automation, and more. In other words, Nvidia wants to write an entirely new technology playbook.
AMD entered 5G with the goal of providing a powerful and scalable platform through its proprietary solution called EPYC, the processors that power the most energy-efficient x86 servers. To advance its technology, AMD is using EPYC to improve 5G performance for communications service providers (CSPs) or simply carriers. AMD sees its positioning in the 5G space as helping carriers overcome data center issues and core infrastructure challenges. The chipmaker has yet to see a breakthrough moment in this new space. Still, we expect these EPYC processor-powered platforms to deliver some epic successes in the 5G world.
Qualcomm’s rival, the larger semiconductor company Broadcom, has entered the race to lead the next-generation 5G technology with gusto. The Singapore-based company tried to get off to a good start in early 2018 when it proposed to acquire smaller competitor Qualcomm for $142 billion. After months of trying to relocate its headquarters to the US, President Donald Trump stepped in and clipped the company’s wings by blocking the deal, citing national security concerns – or, more precisely, fears that China might overtake the US in developing 5G technology. The bitter battle has gone down in history as a complex hostile takeover attempt that rocked the political world.
Qualcomm, which designs, manufactures and licenses chips for mobile phones and other devices, sharply increased its presence in 5G in the second half of 2020 when it expected to benefit from Apple’s launch of four 5G-enabled iPhones. In a way, Qualcomm helped accelerate the long-promised transition to 5G after years of slow progress and more discussion than execution. The company expects 650 million to 700 million 5G devices to be shipped worldwide throughout 2022. Going forward, Qualcomm is looking to expand its relationships with tech giants Samsung and Apple. The company boasts chip supply agreements with both, but why pick just one industry leader?
Headquartered in the US and the UK, Liberty Broadband boasts an advanced fibre optic broadband and 5G network with the aim of enabling a more connected society. To put its vision into practice, Liberty Broadband has pumped around $23 billion into the UK and Europe since 2014 and manages over 85 million subscribers in these regions. The group owns or has stakes in over 75 brands and companies, including Virgin Media-02 in the UK, VodafoneZiggo in the Netherlands, Telenet in Belgium and Sunrise in Switzerland. Liberty has placed the 5G broadband revolution at the core of its future-proof business, aiming to lead the way in the rapid growth of 5G on the Old Continent.
UK-based Vodafone is the UK’s leading telecommunications operator, competing with rivals O2, EE and Three for the juicy 5G business. All four rolled out 5G thanks to Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, which supplied it with equipment until mid-2020 when it was flagged as a security risk by the UK’s secret intelligence services and phased out the country’s 5G market. Vodafone quickly regretted it, and by the end of the same year had adopted 5G equipment from smaller “open RAN” suppliers. The group plans to use them in one-fifth of its UK network locations by 2027.
Semiconductor company Marvell Technology powers the data infrastructure of carrier networks. The company made the leap to 5G in mid-2020, starting a transformation process that has led to some solid partnerships, including with big names like Nokia, where the two companies are developing 5G multi-RAT (radio access technology) silicon innovations, and Samsung, where Marvell is helping to enable wireless infrastructure networks. Thanks to Marvell’s robust sales among semiconductor companies, the company’s stock has grown steadily. Over the past five years, the stock has risen by more than 150%, even enduring an interview with Jim Cramer in 2020.
US-based chipmaker Skyworks Solutions has soared in 2020 as the 5G market boomed. Skyworks shares have more than doubled from their 2020 lows to finish the year near their all-time high. The semiconductor manufacturer specializes in chips used in mobile phones, WiFi, Bluetooth, and lesser known Zigbee and LoRa applications. Skyworks supplies chips to tech giants Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi and is heavily involved in the 5G space. The company is valued at around $16 billion and is gradually expanding its reach while exploring alternative revenue streams from areas such as IoT, infrastructure, audio, and gaming.
