Qualcomm paid $1.15 billion to buy the rest of a partnership it had with TDK Corp., by completing the acquisition of the remaining interest in RF360 Holdings Singapore Pte. Ltd.

RF360 Holdings Singapore Pte. Ltd., a joint venture with TDK Corp., has produced RF front-end (RFFE) filters which enable Qualcomm Technologies to deliver complete 4G/5G RFFE solutions. With this acquisition, Qualcomm Technologies is able to provide a complete end-to-end solution from modem to antenna, the Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 5G Modem-RF System, including the first commercial 5G NR sub-6 and mmWave solutions, integrating power amplifiers, filters, multiplexers, antenna tuning, LNAs, switching and envelope tracking products.

This acquisition is Qualcomm's final step to formally bring in-house more than 20 years of expertise in RFFE filtering. Qualcomm Technologies now has one of the broadest portfolios of RFFE products, including integrated and discrete micro-acoustic components utilizing RFFE filter technologies such as BAW, SAW, TC-SAW, as well as Thin Film SAW, all of which are core to developing and producing filters, duplexers, multiplexers for discrete, power amplifiers and diversity modules, as well as n-plexers and extractors for the very complex front end necessary for today’s leading mobile phones and connected devices.

“Our goal in the formation of this joint venture was to enhance Qualcomm Technologies’ front-end solutions to enable us to deliver a truly complete solution to the mobile device ecosystem, and we have done exactly that,” said Cristiano Amon, president of Qualcomm Incorporated.

TDK Electronics’ (formerly EPCOS) remaining interest in the joint venture was valued at $1.15 billion in August 2019. The total purchase price, including the initial investment, payments to TDK based on sales by the joint venture, and development obligations, will be approximately $3.1 billion.