Renesas Electronics Corporation and Sequans Communications announced an expansion of their collaboration to include development of 5G modules based on Sequans' upcoming Taurus 5G platform. Renesas will gain non-exclusive technology access and licensing from Sequans. This follows the two companies' earlier cooperation to develop modules based on Sequans' Monarch LTE-M/NB-IoT platform, announced last October.

Through their expanded 5G relationship, Renesas and Sequans aim to bring together Sequans' 5G modem technology with Renesas' analog front-end FR1/FR2 technology to create a best-in-class combined 5G solution. The Taurus 5G platform is 3GPP Release 16 compliant and optimized to address a wide range of enhanced broadband and critical IoT applications, including fixed wireless access, mobile computing, private and vertical networks, industrial machinery, AR/VR, and drones. According to Techno Systems Research, the global addressable market is estimated to be more than 250 million devices by 2025.

The expanded collaboration also gives Renesas access to Sequans recently announced second generation Cat 1 technology, Calliope 2, designed to be a power-efficient and cost-effective solution for those IoT applications needing higher than LTE-M speed and/or VoLTE support, such as connected speakers or alarm devices. Renesas expects to deliver modules supporting 4G extensions and most 5G modes beginning in late 2021 and extending through 2022.