Xilinx, NEC Partner to Drive Global Deployment for 5G Radio Units

Xilinx, Inc., an enabler in adaptive computing, and NEC Corporation announced that the companies are collaborating on NEC's next-generation 5G radio units (RUs) expected to be available for global deployment in 2022.

Xilinx 7nm Versal AI Core series devices, which are currently shipping in volume production, will enable greater performance in the new NEC RUs.

These latest NEC 5G massive MIMO RUs utilize digital beamforming for more efficient communication and wider bandwidth. Designed to address worldwide markets, NEC RUs will support a wide range of 5G
frequencies, including C-Band. The Xilinx Versal AI Core series
devices used within the NEC RUs enable advanced signal processing and beamforming, while also integrating O-RAN capabilities. O-RAN
interfaces enable open and flexible 5G RAN deployments, in addition
to allowing broader interoperability with products from different
vendors.

"NEC's new massive MIMO radios using Xilinx's commercially-proven
beamforming capabilities will enable an improved wireless end-user
experience as use cases continue to grow and evolve in the future,"
said Liam Madden, executive vice president and general manager, Wired and Wireless Group at Xilinx. "The combination of NEC's leadership in massive MIMO radio design and Xilinx technology will deliver a compelling solution to the ORAN market."

"In the highly competitive 5G base station market, the integration of
Xilinx technology within NEC RUs will provide valuable advantages to
our customers, who demand highly-capable and feature-rich RUs that deliver the performance needed to scale for nearly any application," said Kenichi Ito, general manager, 1st Wireless Access Solutions Division at NEC. "The Xilinx Versal AI Core series delivers on its design promise for performance and scalability by using advanced signal-processing for massive MIMO antennas and beamforming. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Xilinx."