Nokia and Finland’s Tampere University join forces to develop the 5G ReefShark chipset

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A new Nokia ‘Center of Excellence’ will be established at Tampere University's ‘Kampusareena’ in Hervanta, to further the development of the company’s ReefShark 5G chipset.

University's ‘Kampusareena’ in Hervanta.
(Image credit: Tampere University.)

Nokia has joined forces with Tampere University – Finland’s second largest university, which specialises in technology and science – to establish a ‘Center of Excellence’ which it hopes will boost the development of its ReefShark chipset portfolio.

The Center will be located at the University's ‘Kampusareena’ in Hervanta, which brings together companies, researchers, students and alumni. Hervanta is sometimes referred to as the Silicon Valley of Finland, and the ‘Kampusareena’, designed by architects Arkkitehdit LSV Oy, is one of Finland’s most iconic buildings.

"This is an exciting joint project that accelerates silicon innovation and ultimately enables operators to realize the benefits of 5G."

Jyrki Vuorinen, Tampere University.

“We are excited to partner with Nokia to develop custom silicon System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions for 5G infrastructure,” said Jyrki Vuorinen, dean of the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences at Tampere University. “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.”

Developing Nokia’s ReefShark chipset

The partnership, which will be based at the University campus, aims to accelerate the introduction of the technology into Nokia’s ReefShark chipset portfolio, and will enhance Nokia’s silicon capabilities and development of proprietary SoCs.

"This important collaboration highlights our continued commitment to developing our ReefShark chipset portfolio."

Ari Kynaslahti, Nokia.

“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,” said Ari Kynaslahti, head of product management at Nokia. “We look forward to working closely and collaboratively with Tampere University on this exciting venture.”

Nokia hopes to accelerate the development of proprietary SoC chipsets, including their design and manufacture, and Nokia will also explore areas such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and security. 

The project is supported by Business Finland through Nokia’s Veturi initiative, and is expected to open in November 2020.

Dan Oliver
Dan Oliver

Dan is a British journalist with 20 years of experience in the design and tech sectors, producing content for the likes of Microsoft, Adobe, Dell and The Sunday Times. In 2012 he helped launch the world's number one design blog, Creative Bloq. Dan is now editor-in-chief at 5Gradar, where he oversees news, insight and reviews, providing an invaluable resource for anyone looking to stay up-to-date with the key issues facing 5G.