Renesas Electronics and Sequans Communications announced an expansion of their collaboration to include development of 5G modules based on Sequans’ upcoming Taurus 5G platform. Renesas will gain non-exclusive technology access and licensing from Sequans. This follows the two companies’ earlier cooperation to develop modules based on Sequans’ Monarch LTE-M/NB-IoT platform, announced last October. Through their expanded 5G relationship, Renesas and Sequans aim to bring together Sequans’ 5G modem technology with Renesas’ analog front-end FR1/FR2 technology to create a best-in-class combined 5G solution.

“Seeing the good momentum of our collaboration on massive IoT with joint LTE-M/NB-IoT solutions, we are excited now to embark on the road to 5G broadband IoT with Renesas,” said Georges Karam, Sequans CEO. “Renesas is a powerhouse in design and execution with global market reach, and our collaboration will benefit the entire 5G IoT industry.”

The Taurus 5G platform is 3GPP Release 16 compliant and optimized to address a wide range of enhanced broadband and critical IoT applications, including fixed wireless access, mobile computing, private and vertical networks, industrial machinery, AR/VR, and drones. According to Techno Systems Research, the global addressable market is estimated to be more than 250 million devices by 2025.

“Sequans is one of the very few semiconductor companies with a full range of cellular IoT solutions from LTE-M and NB-IoT all the way up to 5G NR,” said Roger Wendelken, Senior Vice President, Head of MCU Business, IoT and Infrastructure Business Unit at Renesas. “We are pleased to expand our collaboration to address the coming 5G revolution and the many exciting opportunities for technology advancement it will bring us and our global customers.”

The expanded collaboration also gives Renesas access to Sequans recently announced second generation Cat 1 technology, Calliope 2, designed to be a power-efficient and cost-effective solution for those IoT applications needing higher than LTE-M speed and/or VoLTE support, such as connected speakers or alarm devices. Renesas expects to deliver modules supporting 4G extensions and most 5G modes beginning in late 2021 and extending through 2022.

“This collaboration enables Renesas to expand their comprehensive module offering with a wide range of 5G/4G cellular IoT modules, and enables Sequans to extend its reach into a wider range of IoT market segments,” said Karam.