Falling WiMAX Chipset Prices Spell Good News for Adoption of Smaller Mobile Devices

The WiMAX chipset market is advancing quickly. There are solid 2-chip designs consisting of a single-chip baseband IC and a single-chip RF IC that are bringing power consumption down. Beceem, GCT Semiconductor, and Sequans have single-chip designs that include both the baseband and RF. Most importantly, WiMAX chipset ASPs are dropping rapidly.

"Even as the mobile WiMAX chipset market has barely gotten its feet wet, chipset ASPs are declining rapidly due to heavy competition and greater integration in designs," says ABI Research principal analyst Philip Solis. "Prices for the baseband and RF components of the chipset have come down from the $35 range a few years ago to below $25, and will drop below $10 in 2011. These falling WiMAX chipset prices are critical for inclusion of the technology in smaller mobile devices."

Even when global subscriber numbers reach the high tens of millions, ABI Research expects chipset shipments to be well into the hundreds of millions. Many devices will include WiMAX capabilities well before users subscribe to WiMAX-based service plans, and some consumers may never utilize the WiMAX capabilities included in their equipment, as more devices start to include other wireless wide-area network connectivity features. In addition, some WiMAX subscribers will have multiple WiMAX-enabled devices on one subscription plan.

"WiMAX will look a bit like Wi-Fi in terms of rapid ASP declines and moves towards 100% penetration in laptops," continues Solis. "Expansion into various mobile devices including Mobile Internet Devices and consumer electronics will be critical to the growth of the WiMAX chipset market."