Intel is getting serious about 5G testing ahead of Mobile World Congress.

Sandra Rivera, corporate VP and general manager at Intel Corp., says that the chipmaker is thinking "beyond smartphones" to the next generation of wireless communications.

"We've been investing in moving more compute capabilities to the edge of the network," says Rivera.

What this means is that Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) is delivering -- or working on -- processors that span everything from the data center to the device.

Specifically, Intel is now on its third generation of its field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) -- customizable silicon -- for 5G testing. It will show that technology off with over-the-air demonstrations with Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) in Barcelona next week.

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The FPGA is focused on the forthcoming 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G New Radio (NR) specification. The company is working on sub-6GHz up to 28GHz for its testbeds.

Intel says that its "Goldridge" 5G modem will start sampling in the second half of 2017. This will support the Verizon Communications fixed wireless 5G specification and what there is so far of the NR spec. (See Intel Readies Multi-Use 5G Modems to Compete With Qualcomm and AT&T & Verizon Hope for Early Arrival of a Basic 5G Spec.)

Rivera says that she expects the earliest 5G deployments to start later this year. Mobile devices will happen later in 2018.

— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading