The last time Wireless Watch’s team visited Mobile World Congress in person, in February 2019, we commented extensively on the way the semiconductor industry was rising to the challenges and opportunities of the 5G RAN. Virtualization of the network, however futuristic for many operators, provides the entry point for merchant chipmakers to enter the formerly proprietary world of baseband processing. And the rising performance demands of 5G, especially in Standalone (SA) mode, offer new opportunities for specialist chip designers to differentiate their offerings in many areas from radio units to Layer 1 offload to AI-enhanced network analytics. The key trend in 2019 was for major chip providers such as Intel, Nvidia and Marvell to be putting together end-to-end and top-to-bottom…