Motorola And GlobalFoundries Agreement Safeguards Chip Supply For Public Safety Radios
By Catherine Sbeglia Nin
To safeguard the supply of chip solutions needed for its radios, Motorola Solutions has entered a long-term agreement with GlobalFoundries (GF), which manufactures silicon-germanium (SiGe) chips for Motorola’s public safety, professional and commercial radios at its Vermont facility.
Global supply-chain constraints, driven mostly by the COVID-19 pandemic, are continuing to impact nearly every industry, even as much of the world is returning to pre-pandemic life. Further exacerbating these supply constraints are the global sanctions enacted against the Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE, as well as the increase in consumer and business demand for connectivity infrastructure and solutions.
For clear reasons, it remains absolutely critical that first responders and other public safety personnel have unrestricted access to reliable and secure communications platforms. And these platforms rely on RF chips.
“Millions of first responders, utilities, infrastructure providers and businesses rely on Motorola Solutions radios for everyday and emergency communications, and it is essential that we maintain supply of these critical components,” said senior vice president of products at Motorola Solutions, Scott Mottonen. “Our long-term relationship with GF provides important capabilities, reliable US-based manufacturing and added assurance that we will continue to meet the safety and security needs of our customers across the globe.”
“We are gratified to serve the industry with feature-rich solutions but also the innovations in RF technology that deliver low noise and high power and efficiency to allow for clear and long-range communications in highly demanding situations,” commented senior vice president and general manager, mobile and wireless infrastructure strategic business unit at GF, Dr. Bami Bastani,.
Other chip manufacturers like Samsung and TSMC have addressed the shortage by developing plans for new manufacturing plants, but these chips will mostly target the automotive industry, which was hit early and hard by the chip shortage.
