Renesas Electronics Corporation and cellular internet of things (IoT) chipsets supplier Altair Semiconductor have announced partnership aiming to introduce ultra-small and ultra-low-power cellular IoT solutions. Cellular IoT device makers will be able to use the combined solutions to create highly differentiated IoT products and services that offer much greater efficiencies and faster time to market.

As a start, Renesas and Altair plan to develop cellular IoT solutions with CAT-M and narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) dual mode chipsets and technologies. They will also design a variety of development tools and software to further streamline the adoption of cellular IoT solutions for industrial and consumer applications. This partnership aims to achieve technical leadership in size reduction, power consumption, and IoT security.

These integrated solutions will be delivered through Renesas' sales channels, enabling cellular connectivity to all of its markets.

The initial phase of the collaboration aims to develop cellular IoT
solutions with CAT-M and NB-IoT dual mode chipsets and technologies.

"Our (Renesas and Altair) combined technical excellence and differentiated IP will allow us to design the smallest and lowest power multi-protocol cellular chip-to-cloud solution for Industrial IoT applications desired by our customers for their next-generation products," said Sailesh Chittipeddi, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Renesas' IoT and Infrastructure Business Unit.

With billions of devices expected to be deployed by 2024, the IoT market demands products that operate seamlessly out of the box. Sensors, cameras, metering, tracking, and smart devices all rely on ultra-low power consumption, offering the potential for a sensor to operate in the field for 10 to 20 years without requiring any hardware maintenance.

"The Integration of Altair's differentiated cellular IoT technology with Renesas' industry-leading MCUs will make this great technology immediately accessible to the mass market of IoT devices and service providers," said Oded Melamed, Chief Executive Officer of Altair Semiconductor. In the partnership, LG and Qualcomm are bringing decades of R&D experience, including knowledge of 5G mobile technology. 5G is vital to the deployment of a fully connected car platform. With connection speeds of up to 5 times faster with 10 times lower latency than the fastest LTE technology, 5G will be able to deliver data at the speeds necessary in a real life driving situation.

The collaboration will be based out of LG Electronics' Science Park in Seoul. The two companies will begin working together effective immediately.