Ericsson Mobile Platforms AB (EMP) was the name of a company within the Ericsson group that supplied mobile platforms, i.e. the technological basis on which a cellular phone product can be built. The main office was in Lund, Sweden.
EMP was one of the leading suppliers of 3G technology to various brands of phones. EMP did not manufacture chips themselves, but partnered with manufacturers that made them based on their reference design and Intellectual Property Rights. It was thus a fabless company. These chips were then only sold to EMP customers. According to the company, EMP held the world’s largest 2G, 2.5G and 3G IPR portfolio, with more than 20,000 granted patents worldwide.
History
Due to the European telecom crisis in the beginning of the 2000s, Ericsson Mobile Communications became unprofitable, and was split in two parts: one part was merged with the mobile division of Sony and formed Sony Ericsson, aimed at developing mobile terminals for the consumer market.[3]