Apple supplier makes strategic bet on 5G radio

Apple didn’t just get into 5G with iPhone, it got into networking tech

While this may mean nothing much at all it may have some significance: Key iPhone component maker Murata Manufacturing, plans to invest around $2 billion in a range of initiatives, including 5G radios and new plant in Thailand.

Murata seeks growth and diversity

Murata Manufacturing is the world’s largest supplier of capacitators. It wants to increase sales by 16% over the next three years, and believes it will achieve new sales records this year.

The investment will include mergers and acquisitions and partnership investments in a variety of plans designed to help the company access new markets in the smartphone supply chain by widening its product portfolio.

But for Apple watchers the decision to manufacture 5G radios and to diversify production into new nations, beginning with a second factory in Thailand, may prove most relevant. We know Apple hopes to manufacture its own 5G radios, and this could be a route to manufacturing those, given Murata Manufacturing competes with Qualcomm on this.

Willing to speak to partners

Murata describes itself, after all, as being wide open for joint investments in order to gain access to new technologies. The Thai factory is due to open for business in 2023, which may (or may not) hint at a schedule for the initial introduction of an Apple-designed 5G radio.

Making all these components speak swiftly together is a big task

That’s a highly speculative possibility, but probably worth taking a note of as we should hear more signals of any move in that direction across the next 12-18 months. Though it has previously been claimed Apple aims to introduce its own 5G modems in or around 2024.

Given that Apple will want to not just make its own 5G baseband but will also want to make a difference when it does, it may be of interest to think that the world’s largest capacitor maker may become involved. Apple will probably seek performance and low battery life in anything it does introduce.

What comes next?

It may also be worth noting that Nikkei reports the company’s decision to diversify production reflects its belief that the global economy is subject to change as India, Africa and other APAC nations emerge.

This story will bubble under in the coming months. It’s highly speculative, but may be worth watching.

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