iampowered: Texas Instruments testing new phone chips

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Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments Inc. says it is testing two new semiconductor chipsets that could mark the next step in making so-called third-generation mobile phones more affordable and widely available.

Officials were scheduled to announce Tuesday in Tokyo that Texas Instruments has tested a new and advanced chipset with Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc. and expects phones with the new component to be on the Japanese market next year.

Analysts who were briefed by Texas Instruments said the new chipset, which combines a modem with an applications processor, was designed to improve the video performance of advanced phones.

But they said it was too early to say whether the new product would vault Texas Instruments ahead of competitors that include Intel Corp., Renesas Technology Corp., Freescale Semiconductor Inc. and the semiconductor unit of Royal Philips Electronics N.V.

At the other end of the third-generation market, Texas Instruments was set to announce that it is testing a new processor designed to boost video performance and support cutting-edge phone functions such as 30 frames per second digital video and 3D gaming at a lower cost than previous chips.

Dallas-based Texas Instruments has been waiting a long time for the promise of higher revenue and profits from making processors for third-generation phones. Research firms such as International Data Corp. and Forward Concepts rank the company first in sales of several types of chips used in cell phones, such as application processors.

The company, which has been helped by a close alliance with Nokia, claims that its chips are in more than half the wireless phones sold in the world.