More than ever before, mergers and acquisitions have increased competition in the mobile device semiconductor market, but Qualcomm (News 
- Alert) has managed to retain a No. 1 position with a market share of 30 percent, according to market analyst firm ABI Research.
From Intel’s acquisition of Infineon Technologies AG Wireless Solutions to NVIDIA’s purchase of Icera, the mobile device semiconductor market has seen a lot of moving and shaking in the year 2011.
Despite the ever-growing mergers, the market is still projected to remain relatively flat, with only 5.6 percent CAGR from 2010 to 2016.
The research firm estimates that mobile device semiconductor market may grow from $25 billion in 2010 to $35 billion in 2016.According to analysts, Intel’s purchase of Infineon’s wireless semiconductor business has turned out to be a smart move as it allowed the processor maker to gain a significant share in the handset market.
The purchase of Infineon’s wireless business gave Intel an instant foothold in the market and that is now producing results: Motorola and Lenovo (News - Alert) are now set to release smartphones based on Intel processors in 2012.
“Most of the major suppliers are spending considerable resources on improving their platform solution capabilities,” said Peter Cooney, practice director, semiconductors. “Through acquisitions and internal product developments, suppliers such as ST-Ericsson (News - Alert), Broadcom, NVIDIA, Marvell, and Renesas are transitioning to a platform supplier model. Although Qualcomm currently leads the way, many other suppliers are increasing their capabilities and the competition between suppliers will increase significantly over the coming years.”
Although Qualcomm currently rests easy as the most successful and largest supplier of mobile device semiconductors, the company has partaken in the M&A trend as well, acquiring Atheros (News - Alert) Communications to form the subsidiary Qualcomm Atheros, strengthening its wireless connectivity portfolio.
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Narayan Bhat is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Narayan’s articles, please visit his columnist page.Edited by
Tammy Wolf
