Sequans bags EUR 10.9m France 2030 grant
The French government has pledged a EUR 10.9m subsidy to cellular IoT chipmaker Sequans Communications to bolster's France's position in the 5G telecoms space.
Paris-headquartered Sequans obtained the grant as part of the France 2030 initiative, which is operated for the state by Bpifrance and was set up to develop technologies deemed to be strategically important to the national interest.
In its funding proposal, Sequans outlined a plan to create a massive IoT chip that can support 5G NR eRedCap (5G new radio enhanced reduced capability). This is the spec that will comply with standalone 5G networks and therefore support an explosion of IoT applications in a wide range of verticals (industrial, utilities, medical, asset tracking, automotive etc).
"We are grateful that our proposal was chosen by France 2030 as it strengthens and secures our massive IoT low-power 5G product portfolio development," said Georges Karam, Sequans CEO. "In addition to 5G NR eRedCap support, this new chip will be backward compatible with existing 4G networks, providing a smooth transition path from 4G to the latest 5G networks for the next ten years".
Sequans is a fabless semiconductor company that designs integrated circuits and modules for 4G and 5G cellular IoT devices. The company is based in Paris, but has offices in the US, UK, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Finland and China.
