Sony, NTT and Intel plot 6G partnership

Nikkei Asian Review writes that Sony, NTT and Intel have announced plans to work together to develop 6G technology, which is forecast to come onstream sometime around 2030. In a joint release, the three companies noted that, even as the launch of 5G services only just begins to get underway, they will look to establish a 6G organisation in the United States by spring 2020. Announcing the initiative, the trio said they would invite other major world players to join the initiative, including Chinese firms, and work toward the implementation of things such as new, more advanced semiconductors and smartphones with an extended battery life; they suggest developing smartphones that can last up to a year on a single charge. With 6G microchips and telecom standards likely to be formalised in the coming years, Sony and NTT hope to gain an edge by teaming up with Intel. NTT, for one, has already begun work on developing chips that ‘run on light, consuming one-hundredth of the power used by conventional chips,’ the Nikkei notes, adding that the Japanese telco could ‘use the partnership to speed up progress toward mass production’.