Texas Instruments still dominates wireless chip maker

DESPITE PROFITS WARNINGS from Texas Instruments (TI), it still looks like it's going to stay firmly on top of the pile of suppliers of wireless semiconductors, a market research company has said.

According to a report from iSuppli, which surveys sales of all semiconductors used in all wireless comms apps, TI kept its position as number one supplier in 2002, and sales grew by 35.8 per cent year on year.

TI is the top supplier of baseband integrated circuits for mobile handsets. Number two supplier, Qualcomm, also retained its number two position in 2002, and grew market share by not far off 40% because of its strength in CDMA technology.

Motorola was number three in the market in 2002, with sales rising to $1.3 billion and displacing ST Microelectronics.

Indeed, said iSuppli, the top five suppliers accounted for over 50 per cent of wireless revenues in 2002.

Sales may be hit by the SARS virus in 2003, the market research company warned. µ

L'INQ
iSuppli