MediaTek shipments for TD-SCDMA handsets to soar, says paper

MediaTek is expected to see its shipments of 3G TD-SCDMA chipsets top two million units a month around the end of the third quarter, compared to about one million shipped monthly during the first quarter of the year, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report. The fabless chipmaker may ship more than 20 million TD-SCDMA chipsets in 2010, compared to six million units last year, the report said.

MediaTek has responded via a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) claiming it was not the source of the report.

Citing industry sources, Commercial Times said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has allocated part of its production capacity at its 12-inch Fab 14 to meet growing demand from MediaTek. The foundry mainly fulfills orders from MediaTek at Fab 12, which is seeing tight capacity, according to the paper.

MediaTek president Hsieh Chin-chiang, speaking at the company's most-recent investors conference, said it has been shipping TD-SCDMA solutions to LG Electronics (LGE) and other branded handset vendors in China. Shipment outlook of MediaTek's 3G solutions, which include WCDMA and TD-SCDMA chipsets, is bright.