Press Release

As 5G private networks become a new battleground for incumbent suppliers and new entrants in the telco space, companies that planned ahead emerge as leaders to define new realms of application for next-generation networks.

In an interview by Taiwan’s Business Today, QCT President Mike Yang revealed the company’s latest business successes and shared its competitive advantages developed from its long-term engagement with the cloud industry.

Delivering End-to-End Solutions to Speed up Time-to-Results 

“QCT is one of the few suppliers in the market that can provide end-to-end solutions spanning cloud infrastructure, 5G infrastructure, standalone 5G core, and 5G private networks,” said Mike Yang, “we respond quickly to customers’ edge computing needs. Instead of waiting for system integrators to do the work, customers can come directly to QCT to have their hardware and software integrated and optimized, saving significant time-to-market.”

As early as 2012, the company branched out from hardware to software architectures on seeing the trend of virtualized networks in the cloud industry, which served as a solid basis for the company’s next turn to the telco business in 2016. 

With expertise in hardware-software integration, QCT is among the first wave of solution providers that have fulfilled real enterprise 5G use cases in Asia. Currently, two use cases in manufacturing and farming have passed the POC stage: 

• Manufacturing: Taiwan’s first enterprise 5G solution is up and running in Eagle Eyes, a local automotive lamp plant located in Tainan. Validated by the National Communications Commission, this solution is powered by QCT 5G core and 5G RAN private networks to support mixed reality applications, enhancing the efficiency and precision in quality control.
• Farming: QCT helps Hokkaido farmers deal with the problems of labor shortage and bad weather by connecting agricultural machinery to a 5G network, allowing them to operate the machinery remotely with the aid of real-time images captured by cameras on site.

Challenging Traditional Telecom and Networking Equipment Suppliers with Open 5G Frameworks 

Another key for QCT to grab a share in the telco market in a short timespan is its investment in Open RAN-based solutions. By integrating standard x86 platforms with open software, Open RAN serves as a cost-efficient alternative to building cloud-native networks. As the sole hardware provider to Rakuten Mobile’s first fully virtualized cloud-native mobile network, QCT has become the world’s largest Open RAN server manufacturer. Playing a vital role in public 5G networks gives QCT an edge in acquiring future enterprise 5G orders.

“After 5G private network equipment enters mass production this year, business owners will start to consider the benefits 5G private networks can bring,” Yang said, “we expect to see substantial changes in the enterprise 5G market in 2022.”

Looking ahead, QCT not only plans to deepen its impact in private 5G, but also to highlight AI presence in more 5G and Cloud use scenarios. “The next goal for QCT is to step into AI medical applications and enterprise digital transformation,” Yang said, envisioning AI to be the next drive for growth.

Click here to read the special report in Chinese.