Several silicon vendors started to unveil WiFi 6 (802.11ax) chips in 2017-2018 such as Broadcom BCM43684, BCM43694 & BCM4375, and Marvell 88W906x.

While NXP launched QorIQ LA1575 programmable wireless SoC with expected 802.11ax support early 2017, AFAIK they did not introduce any specific WiFi 6 chips. But last year, the company used some of its cash to purchase Marvell’s WiFi & Bluetooth business and has now announced the availability of Marvell NXP WiFi 6 chips and solutions which mostly are the ones announced by Marvell in 2017.

NXP Wi-Fi 6 solutions include



NXP 88W9064 & 88W9068 4×4 and 8×8-stream solutions with WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5 for home and enterprise access solutions

NXP 88Q9098 concurrent dual Wi-Fi 6 2×2+2×2 + Bluetooth 5 AEC-Q100 qualified solutions for infotainment and telematics automotive applications

NXP 88W9098 concurrent dual Wi-Fi 6 2×2+2×2 + Bluetooth 5 solutions for multimedia streaming and consumer access applications

Unnamed IoT-focused 2×2 WiFi 6 + Bluetooth 5 chip optimized for cost and power

Ultra-compact (3x4mm) RF front-end solutions that can scale Wi-Fi 6 capabilities from low-to-high-end applications, including 1×1, 2×2, 4×4 and 8×8 MIMO.

NXP 88Q9098/88W9098 WiFi 6 + Bluetooth 5 Chip

We have already covered 88W9064 & 88W9068 in our previous post when it still belonged to Marvell, so let’s focus on 88Q9098 (automotive) and 88W9098 (consumer applications) since we may find it in routers. Note 88Q9098 was first announced in June 2018.

We have basically no info for 88W9098 since there’s no product page, but based on the information above, I believe 88Q9098 should be similar plus automotive certifications, features, and a wider operating temperature range.

88Q9098 comes in three variants:

2×2 + 2×2 Concurrent Dual Wi-Fi with Bluetooth 5 (88Q9098A)

2×2 Wi-Fi + 2×2 802.11p Concurrent Operation with Bluetooth 5 (88Q9098P)

2×2 + 2×2 Concurrent Dual Wi-Fi or 2×2 Wi-Fi® + 2×2 802.11p Concurrent Operation with Bluetooth 5 (88Q9098S) Since 802.11p is a WiFi standard for automotive applications, 88W9098 probably does not offer this option.

Key Features:

Concurrent Dual Wi-Fi operating modes for various automotive applications

2×2 IEEE 802.11ax/IEEE 802.11ac

Support 20/40/80/(80+80) MHz channel bandwidths.

Uplink & Downlink OFDMA and MU-MIMO

Instantaneous 0-DFS

AEC-Q100 grade 2 support (from -40C up to +105C) with external power amplifiers

11×11 mm, 148-pin DR-QFN package

You’ll find more details about NXP WiFi 6 solutions on the company’s website.