sprd

SPRD is the stock ticker historically associated with Spreadtrum Communications, a Chinese fabless semiconductor company best known for designing mobile system-on-chip (SoC) solutions. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Shanghai, Spreadtrum developed baseband processors and application processors for 2G, 3G, and 4G devices, targeting budget and mid-range smartphones as well as feature phones. Its SoCs typically integrated modem functionality with application processing and multimedia capabilities on a single chip, allowing original equipment manufacturers to produce lower-cost devices.

Corporate and market history: Spreadtrum was publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the SPRD symbol before being acquired by Tsinghua Unigroup in the early 2010s. In the following years, Spreadtrum and RDA Microelectronics were merged and reorganized under the Unisoc brand, a Chinese semiconductor company focusing on mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) SoCs. The Unisoc name is used for the company’s current product lines, and the SPRD ticker is no longer active.

Products and technology: Spreadtrum’s offerings included SoCs with integrated basebands and application processors based on ARM architectures, designed for mobile devices and feature phones. The company’s products supported common mobile standards of their era (2G/3G and later 4G), emphasizing cost efficiency for OEMs in emerging markets and budget segments.

Impact and current status: Spreadtrum contributed to the development of China’s domestic smartphone supply chain and the broader global market for low- to mid-tier mobile chips. After the acquisition and restructuring, the business operates under the Unisoc brand, and SPRD as a public ticker has ceased to trade.