Wireless Chip Suppliers Lay Groundwork for the Future
Semiconductor vendors try to put the downturn behind them.
The year 2009 saw the companies in the wireless Integrated Circuit (IC) market go from merely trying to survive to laying the groundwork for aggressive growth for the next three years. This market arguably was affected by the economic downturn more severely than other electronic application segments. The economic carnage spilled over from the second half of 2008 and into the first quarter of 2009, with the wireless segment getting hit both by soft end demand and by an inventory correction as suppliers tried to get ahead of declining sales.
During this time, consolidations, mergers and acquisitions and strategy modifications were common as even previously strong competitors exited the market or refocused their wireless activities. As the mobile device semiconductor market tries to put the downturn behind it, it is setting its sights on three main areas: Long-Term Evolution (LTE), HSPA+ and mobilized, non-handset devices.
Coming in fourth is the migration of 3G technology to the mass market. Heading into 2010, the industry is rampant with new chips targeted at this area from basebands, applications processors, transceivers and power amplifiers. Enhancements driven by new modulation schemes such as 64QAM, which require a higher degree of linearity and lower insertion loss, MIMO, single-chip solutions and the unique requirements of non-handset devices are all contributing to an influx of new chipsets and components, which are expected to commence volume production in 2010.
This next wave of technology transitions, driven by the escalating demand for mobile wireless broadband data usage, is not only generating growth opportunities in this sector but also is reinvigorating competition in the baseband and system architecture markets with regard to baseband and applications processor architectures.
The main competitors in the baseband market are Qualcomm, MediaTek, ST-Ericsson and Infineon. MediaTek, ST-Ericsson and Infineon all are trying to erode Qualcomm’s dominant position. iSuppli’s latest quarterly Wireless Competitive Landscaping Tool indicates Qualcomm is losing some of that share as ST Ericsson continues to gain momentum in the WCDMA area and MediaTek becomes stronger in the rising GPRS/EDGE market, an area that Qualcomm does not address.
Further potential challenges also loom for Qualcomm as iSuppli’s channel checks indicate some initial progress by Samsung in the LTE baseband segment. There are indications that Samsung is progressing in its effort to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm in the 4G segment
Despite the enthusiasm in the market, iSuppli is cautioning that sellers of LTE baseband chips should continue to be vigilant on inventory management to ensure that the recovery is not stalled by another oversupply situation.
The year 2009 saw the companies in the wireless Integrated Circuit (IC) market go from merely trying to survive to laying the groundwork for aggressive growth for the next three years. This market arguably was affected by the economic downturn more severely than other electronic application segments. The economic carnage spilled over from the second half of 2008 and into the first quarter of 2009, with the wireless segment getting hit both by soft end demand and by an inventory correction as suppliers tried to get ahead of declining sales.
During this time, consolidations, mergers and acquisitions and strategy modifications were common as even previously strong competitors exited the market or refocused their wireless activities. As the mobile device semiconductor market tries to put the downturn behind it, it is setting its sights on three main areas: Long-Term Evolution (LTE), HSPA+ and mobilized, non-handset devices.
Coming in fourth is the migration of 3G technology to the mass market. Heading into 2010, the industry is rampant with new chips targeted at this area from basebands, applications processors, transceivers and power amplifiers. Enhancements driven by new modulation schemes such as 64QAM, which require a higher degree of linearity and lower insertion loss, MIMO, single-chip solutions and the unique requirements of non-handset devices are all contributing to an influx of new chipsets and components, which are expected to commence volume production in 2010.
This next wave of technology transitions, driven by the escalating demand for mobile wireless broadband data usage, is not only generating growth opportunities in this sector but also is reinvigorating competition in the baseband and system architecture markets with regard to baseband and applications processor architectures.
The main competitors in the baseband market are Qualcomm, MediaTek, ST-Ericsson and Infineon. MediaTek, ST-Ericsson and Infineon all are trying to erode Qualcomm’s dominant position. iSuppli’s latest quarterly Wireless Competitive Landscaping Tool indicates Qualcomm is losing some of that share as ST Ericsson continues to gain momentum in the WCDMA area and MediaTek becomes stronger in the rising GPRS/EDGE market, an area that Qualcomm does not address.
Further potential challenges also loom for Qualcomm as iSuppli’s channel checks indicate some initial progress by Samsung in the LTE baseband segment. There are indications that Samsung is progressing in its effort to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm in the 4G segment
Despite the enthusiasm in the market, iSuppli is cautioning that sellers of LTE baseband chips should continue to be vigilant on inventory management to ensure that the recovery is not stalled by another oversupply situation.
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