Freescale pulls out of portable market

Chip maker Freescale Semiconductor is looking for a buyer for its handset chips as boss Rich Beyer reviews operations, although what this means for the iMX range of application processors is unclear.

It plans to intends to complete a sale, joint venture agreement or other transformation in the coming months. The company’s cellular handset products business includes baseband processors, RF transceivers, power management/audio, software and platforms for the cellular handset market.

Instead the company will increase investments in the automotive and networking markets where it is the global leader in automotive microcontrollers, communication processors and radio frequency (RF) chips.

“This strategic framework is the result of a thorough evaluation and planning process conducted since I joined Freescale six months ago," said Chairman and chief executive officer Rich Beyer. “In the cellular handset chipset market, it has become evident that this business needs considerably greater scale in order to achieve a position of market leadership and long-term success. We feel the investment required to achieve that scale by Freescale will be better served extending our product portfolios where we are the leader and expanding our application expertise in sensors, analogue, power and multimedia processing.”

The company’s i.MX multimedia applications processor technology, found in a variety of consumer-oriented portable devices, is being adopted in automotive voice-activated entertainment and communication systems, but this has been a key part of the cellular offering.