Texas Instruments (TI) is apparently in the process of shifting its chip focus from smartphones to a “broader” market – such as the automotive space – as it seeks a more profitable and stable business.
According to Reuters, Texas Instruments has been under pressure in the mobile market where it is losing significant ground to Qualcomm, Apple and Samsung – all of whom have been developing their own chips instead of buying them from TI.
As expected, TI – whose OMAP chips power Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus – says it will continue to support its customers. Nevertheless, the industry heavyweight will not be investing in its mobile road map at the same rate as before.
“We believe that opportunity is less attractive as we go forward,” said TI exec Greg Delagi.
Longbow Research analyst JoAnne Feeney confirmed TI has made it “very clear” that it no longer wants to be in the business of providing application processors for smartphones or tablets.
”[However], what remains uncertain is for how long they’ll support customers,” she added.
Meanwhile, AndroidCentral’s Andrew Martonik said it was “unfortunate” to see TI moving away from the mobile market.
“[TI’s] chips have powered some of the best devices on the market, most recently the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and range of Kindle Fires,” he opined.
“Instead of the next generation OMAP 5 platform competing for placement in tomorrow’s smartphones, we may be looking at a market almost completely dominated by Qualcomm, [Nvidia] and Samsung chips.”
