Competitors Building Blocks To Qualcomm's CDMA Chips?

摘要

After years of dominating the CDMA chipset arena, Qualcomm Inc. is finally facing its first significant competitor. Just seven months after announcing its intention to enter the CDMA chip market, an alliance consisting of silicon heavyweights Texas Instruments Inc. and STMicroelectronics in conjunction with handset vendor Nokia has started providing samples of its CDMA2000 1X chipset solution to handset makers. ST, TI and Nokia are collaborating on the core technology, and ST and TI will market the chipsets to other handset manufacturers. While competition in the CDMA chip market is considered a good sign for the overall CDMA industry, it remains uncertain how much traction this rival 1X chip will have in the market or how it will impact Qualcomm's bottom line. In 2002 the CDMA heavyweight's chip business accounted for $2.4 billion in revenue. "This is a monumental event for CDMA," says John Jackson, wireless analyst with the Yankee Group. While other chip makers have entered the CDMA chip market, including Taiwan's Via Technologies and Illinois-based PrairieComm Inc., among others, no other chip company has been able to gain significant traction with CDMA chips. According to analysts, Qualcomm currently holds more than 90 percent of the CDMA chip market.