German semiconductor manufacturer Infineon said on Tuesday it signed an agreement to develop a new multi-mode, single-chip 3G radio frequency (RF) transceiver based on its own SMARTi UE chip.

"The new chip will effectively reduce size and footprint for next generation 3G devices and offer best in class radio performance at market leading system cost," commented Stefan Wolff, Vice President and General Manager of Infineon?s RF Engine Business Unit.

The RF transceiver is a core component in a mobile phone or other mobile cellular device; its primary function is to send and receive digital data over the air.

"As consumers continue to demand more multimedia functionality from their mobile devices, the RF plays a key role in delivering the data speed and signaling needed to support mobile content and services," the company said.

Infineon's SMARTi UE supports all global UMTS band combinations as well as quad-band EDGE, enabling handset makers to address the various regional operator frequency requirements within the same device design.

Production ramp up is planned for the second half of 2008. Terms of the development agreement were not disclosed.