Intel has ended a partnership to share its latest 5G modem chips with China's second largest mobile chipmaker amid concerns that the technology transfer could cause problems in Washington, sources have told Nikkei Asian Review.

The Chinese owners of Imagination Technologies have drafted in a microchip industry veteran from a Beijing-backed technology conglomerate, after buying the British company last year.

Two China-based fabless companies made the top 10 ranking last year-HiSilicon, which sells most of its devices as internal transfers to smartphone supplier Huawei, and Unigroup, which includes the IC sales of both Spreadtrum and RDA.

Unigroup mobile-design subsidiary Spreadtrum & RDA and the British supplier of chips to Apple's iPhones and iPads are considering a joint venture in eastern China, through which the pair will jointly design communications components.

China's state-backed Tsinghua Unigroup is pushing for an initial public offering of its mobile chip unit, Unigroup Spreadtrum RDA, in 2018, sources told Nikkei Asian Review.

The GSA Board chairman is a coveted position throughout the industry reserved for the most innovative leaders who represent the semiconductor industry's most active global regions. Dr. Li will be the first chairman to serve from mainland China.

I know Intel partnered up with Tsinghua Unigroup last year to buy a 20% stake in Chinese fabless chipmakers RDA Microlectronics and Spreadtrum. However, I do not think Intel would be a major partner in Tsinghua Unigroup's $47 billion plan to become the world's third-largest chipmaker. I believe troubled AMD is more likely to be desperate enough to welcome Tsinghua's money.

China's Spreadtrum Communications will use Intel's 14nm FinFET process technology for both the low- and high-end mobile chips the company plans to launch in 2016, according to Spreadtrum chairman and CEO Leo Li.

Persistent speculation about a pending merger between Chinese fabless chip vendors RDA Microelectroics and Spreadtrum Communications may have some basis in reality, but word is that RDA has its sights set on a higher bidder.

The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) has announced the appointment of Leo Li, chairman, CEO and president of Spreadtrum Communications, to its board of directors. In his new position, Li will represent Asia-Pacific as the first board director based in China.

The potential for Chinese fabless companies to reap greater rewards are already here, according to Allen Wu, president of ARM China. ARM-based SoCs, designed by Chinese fabless companies and shipped globally, jumped from 30 million units in 2007 to 615 million units in 2011.

Spreadtrum Communications has launched two low-cost multimedia chipsets for multimedia-rich mobile phones. The SC6610 and SC6620 possess Spreadtrum's highly integrated design, and combine PMU, multimedia accelerator, touch screen controller, backlight controller, 16M/32M pSRAM and up to four SIM card interfaces into one chip.