Manufacturing
Fixed wireless access is where a 5G network meets a customer’s premises, and CPE is the device that has to work there. This page covers what local assembly of 5G CPE actually involves in Riyadh, and the questions specific to this device family rather than to factories in general.
Device family Published 3 min read
01The short answer
5G CPE is assembled on the Riyadh line under an OEM model: you bring the design and specification, the line assembles, tests, loads firmware and packages to it. The current localisation stage is SKD — major sub-assemblies arrive largely built and are completed and tested locally. The three things that decide whether a programme fits are the band and RF specification, the certification path for the finished device, and the volume and timeline.
02Context
Fixed wireless access turns a mobile network into a broadband product, and CPE is the unit that is shipped, installed, supported and eventually replaced at scale. Two pressures push that volume toward local assembly: local-content expectations on large procurements, and import lead times that are difficult to plan a rollout around.
In April 2026, stc disclosed the localization of CPE production in partnership with Huawei and Interkey. That disclosure is the reason this page exists, and it is worth being precise about what it establishes: that the localisation was disclosed by the operator. It is not a statement about exclusivity, about being first, about market position, about other product families, or about the current scope of any arrangement. Those would be different claims, and this page does not make them.
03What decides fit
Generic factory questions matter, and the buyer’s guide covers them. These are the ones that are specific to this device family.
Which bands, which power class, which antenna configuration. RF is where a CPE design is genuinely hard, and it is the part that determines what testing the line has to perform on every unit rather than on a sample.
Who holds the approval for the finished device, and what re-qualification a change of assembly location or component triggers. Settle this before volumes are committed, not after the first batch.
SKD assembly gets a working line and a delivered product soonest. Whether that is the right stage depends on the local-content position you actually need and when you need units in customers’ hands.
04The facility
5G CPE is one of four device families the facility assembles, alongside mesh routers, 5G MiFi and ONT. The facility was designed and built to the specification of a partner factory in China specialising in CPE, ONT and FTTR products, with supervision and knowledge transfer from that factory’s own team.
It is a contract manufacturer, open to all network device vendors rather than a captive line for one brand. Where this is the wrong fit: a few hundred units, a design still changing, or a requirement for component-level fabrication — the line assembles and tests devices, it does not make chips.
05Buyer questions
Direct answers to the questions that come up in real evaluations. Anything missing, ask us at the bottom of the page.
It can be assembled and tested locally. Interkey Semiconductor runs 5G CPE as one of four device families on its Riyadh lines, currently at SKD stage, under an OEM contract model. Whether that satisfies a specific local-content requirement is an assessment question for the specific bill of materials, not something a supplier can assert.
It builds to yours. The model is OEM contract assembly: you bring the design and specification and retain ownership of it. If you need a design as well as a line, that is an ODM conversation and a different commercial structure.
stc disclosed the localization of CPE production in partnership with Huawei and Interkey. That is the whole of what it establishes. It is not a claim of exclusivity, of being first, of market leadership, of covering every product family, or about the current contractual scope — and this site does not present it as any of those.
There is no single threshold, because programme setup and qualification dominate at low volume while component procurement dominates at high volume. Describe the annual volume and the ramp and the useful answer comes back as what the line can absorb against your timeline.
From the insights library
The vendor-neutral checklist to put in the RFP before shortlisting anyone, including Interkey.
Device familyThe fibre equivalent at the customer end of the line, and where FTTH volume lands.
Next step
Describe the band specification, the volumes and the timeline, and the first reply covers what the line can absorb at which stage — including the cases where importing a certified device is the better decision.
Or directly
+966-11-2180999 info@interkey.com.saTawuniya Towers, North Tower, 7th Floor, King Fahad Highway, Olaya, P.O. Box 56835, Riyadh 11564, Saudi Arabia