Sequans Partners with Renesas to Expand Milestone Collaboration Based on 5G Technology

Sequans Communications is a leading provider of 5G/45 modules and chips that power the Internet of Things devices for broadband and massive IoT applications. The company announced a milestone collaboration between Sequans and Renesas. The latter is a primary supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, and with this collaboration, the two companies will see the development of 5G modules based on Sequans’ Taurus 5G platform, which is a platform that Sequans is currently working on and will be rolled out by the end of 2021.

With this partnership, Renesas will have non-exclusive access to Sequans’ technology. The two companies’ collaboration is nothing new. The new agreement follows the companies already established collaboration on solutions based on Sequans’ Monarch LTE-M/NB-IoT platform.

Via their extended 5G partnership, Renesas and Sequans plan to combine Sequan's 5G modem technology with Renesas' FR1/FR2 analog front-end technology to create the best-in-class 5G integrated 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 compatible with the 3GPP release 16 standard and is designed for a wide variety of improved broadband and essential IoT applications, including fixed wireless connectivity, mobile computing, private and vertical networks, heavy equipment, AR/VR and drones. According to Techno Systems Analysis, the global demand to be addressed is expected 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 partnership also gives Renesas access to the newly announced second generation Cat 1 technology, Calliope 2, designed to be a cost-effective and reliable solution for IoT applications requiring higher speeds than LTE-M and/or VoLTE support, such as connected speakers or alarm systems. Renesas plans to offer modules supporting 4G extensions and most 5G modes starting at the end of 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,” shared Karam.