The LTE modem business continues to consolidate in the hands of a few players with the scale and resources to play in this unforgiving game. Broadcom, Nvidia, Texas Instruments, Renesas and others have thrown in the towel, and Marvell, whose Chinese successes have kept it in the game, is cutting back too. According to Will Strauss of research firm Forward Concepts, Marvell is closing its design facility in Austin, Texas, and its wireless operations in Israel as part of a major reorganization of its LTE modem business. This will involve the loss of about 150 engineers, with most of their work presumably being transferred to the firm’s design center in Shanghai, in its most important market, China. This is not…