Chinese PC maker Lenovo may be getting ready to start developing its own processors. The chips would be aimed at the company’s smartphones and tablets, rather than traditional desktop and notebook computers.
While Lenovo isn’t a major player in the smartphone space, the company is one of the top smartphone makers in its home country of China. And according to EE Times, Lenovo is planning to design its own chips for those devices.
Up until now Lenovo has used third party processors in its mobile devices, from companies including Qualcomm, MediaTek, Samsung, and Intel.
On the one hand, that’s given Lenovo the flexibility to choose from a wide range of chips. On the other hand, it’s given the company less control over the capabilities of their devices and left Lenovo at the mercy of other companies — EE Times reports that Samsung hasn’t allowed Lenovo to use its latest processors, for instance.
There’s no word on when Lenovo would be ready to start designing chips in-house, but according to Eee Times, the company plans to expand its integrated circuit design team from about 10 people to around 100 people by mid-2013