China Mobile has signed cooperative research and development (R&D) agreements with nine handset manufacturers and three chip vendors. As part of the agreement, China Mobile will invest RMB600 million as subsidies to these vendors, driving a total investment of over RMB1.2 billion in TD-SCDMA R&D, with the remaining contributions coming from other participating vendors. Six joint bids won subsidies for China Mobile’s “Flagship Broadband Internet Handset” project. These were Motorola and 3G chip manufacturer T3G; Samsung and T3G; mobile handset manufacturer Yulong and TD-SCDMA chipmaker Leadcore Technology; Smartphone manufacturer Dopod and T3G; LG Electronics and Leadcore; and ZTE and Leadcore. China Mobile will invest approximately RMB310 million in the project. For the “Low Cost 3G Handset” project, the five successful bids were from ZTE and Leadcore; LG and Leadcore; Hisense and wireless chipset provider Spreadtrum Communications; Guangzhou New Postcom and Spreadtrum; and handset manufacturer Huawei and T3G. China Mobile will provide approximately RMB290 million of funding for this project.
