Nokia today announced that it has joined forces with Tampere University to establish a ‘Center of Excellence’ to enhance the development of System-on-Chip (SoC) custom processors for its ReefShark chipset portfolio.

The partnership, which will be based at the University campus, aims to accelerate the introduction of the technology into Nokia’s ReefShark chipset portfolio. It will also enhance Nokia’s silicon capabilities and development of proprietary SoCs. The Center of Excellence is expected to open in November this year.

The purpose of the partnership is to accelerate the development of proprietary SoC chipsets, including their design and manufacture, to improve time-to-market and to build a long-term SoC development competence and a foundation for technology leadership. The joint venture will also target an annual chip cadence with ecosystem partners, and see Nokia contribute to module and physical implementation.

Nokia will also explore areas such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and security hardware development as well as open source hardware based SoCs. Nokia’s global reach will support Tampere University with future research projects as well as guide them in their approach to educating the engineers of the future.

The project is supported by Business Finland through Nokia’s Veturi initiative that drives industrial 5G and ecosystem development with industry partners and leading universities. Nokia has maintained a close partnership with Tampere University since its ‘Nokia Innovation Center’ was co-located with the University in the 2000s.

Jyrki Vuorinen, Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences at Tampere University: “We are excited to partner with Nokia to develop custom silicon System-on-Chip solutions for 5G infrastructure. This is an exciting joint project that accelerates silicon innovation and ultimately enables operators to realize the benefits of 5G. We have recruited a professor of practice and started the recruitment process of two international professorships.”

Ari Kynaslahti, Head of Product Management at Nokia said: “This important collaboration highlights our continued commitment to developing our ReefShark chipset portfolio and ensures that Nokia 5G solutions deliver a best-in-class performance to our customers. We look forward to working closely and collaboratively with Tampere University on this exciting venture.”

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