LONDON – Sales revenue from chipsets designed for mobile devices increased by more than 20 percent to $35 billion in 2011, while the total semiconductor market achieved 2 percent year-on-year growth, according to market analysis firm ABI Research.
The chip market is driven by the popularity of mobile equipment including smartphones, tablet computers and e-book readers. The range of semiconductor components including modem ICs, application processors, wireless connectivity ICs, MEMS sensors, and audio ICs.
Platform ICs – including modems, application processors and RF chips – account for the bulk of revenues, but are becoming an increasingly competitive section of the market. Suppliers include: Qualcomm, ST-Ericsson, MediaTek, Intel, Texas Instruments, Broadcom, Marvell, and Renesas Mobile. The top 10 suppliers now account for more than 75 percent of mobile semiconductor total revenues and their dominance is set to continue as niche suppliers are acquired or leave the market, ABI said.
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