VIA Telecom receives 3G handset chip orders from Tianyu, Dopod and Lenovo, paper says

VIA Telecom, a subsidiary of VIA Technologies, has received orders for baseband chips for use in CDMA2000 handsets from China vendors Beijing Tianyu Communications Equipment, Dopod and Lenovo, with Tianyu having placed an order for six million units for the entire 2009, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report.

VIA Telecom is expected to ship more than 10 million CDMA2000 chips this year, compared to more than 4.5 million units last year, the paper said. Qualcomm owns the patent of CDMA2000, and VIA Telecom is the only company licensed for producing and selling CDMA2000 chips, targeting the entry-level and mid-range handset market in China.

VIA Telecom has also successfully cut into Nokia's supply chain, the paper said, adding its CDMA solutions have been adopted in Nokia's entry-level handset Nokia1508.

source