The briefing will give an overview of the wireless chipsets market, markets of various types of wireless chipsets covered, the market dynamics covering the drivers, restraints and opportunities, overall statistics, forecasts, different types of segmentation done, value chains, technology roadmaps, key players and the complete competitive landscape.

Only 5 major chipsets – namely, Wi-Fi/WLAN chipsets, Wireless Display/Video, Mobile WiMAX, Mobile LTE and ZigBee chipsets are considered in this research study, to analyze markets of each of these chipsets in only two major application sectors – Consumer Electronics and Automation Applications. The total market encompassing the markets for these five wireless chipsets is referred to as ‘wireless chipsets market’ throughout the report wherever overall data/statistics are mentioned.

Under the term “WLAN” chipsets, though both ‘Wi-Fi’ chipsets and ‘Wireless Display/Video’ chipsets fall under the term, the segregation of the entire WLAN chipsets market into these two different markets was mainly done due to the difference in wireless functionalities for both fields, and the overall market sizes and current stages of these markets in their respective market life cycles.

The term ‘Wi-Fi’ chipsets included in this research study, mainly covers all the traditional WLAN chipsets under the IEEE protocols 802.11a, b, g also covering the upgraded versions of 802.11n, 802.11ac and 802.11ad, mainly covering those chipsets which allow wireless transfer & access of data with low and medium bit-rates (up to 1 Gbps) and have been typically found in laptops, netbooks, notebooks since the turn of the century. Later the invention & commercialization of several new consumer electronic gadgets took place with growing convergence of computing sector with consumer electronics, such as smartphones, tablets, e-Book readers, portable media players and All-in-One PCs during the previous decade.

With this being said, on a different front of innovation, the birth of wireless transfer and access of high and ultra-high data rates facilitating wireless transfer of display and video (including music) between devices took place with commercialization and establishment of Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI).

Since the latter half of the previous decade, several developments took place in this new field, with new technologies such as Apple’s AirPlay, WirelessHD by Silicon Image, Inc., ‘Wireless Display’ or WiDi by Intel Corporation, Wi-Fi Display by Atheros Communications (later acquired by Qualcomm, Inc. to form its subsidiary Qualcomm Atheros, Inc.) being invented, successfully tested and commercially launched into the market, developing a completely new field of revolution in WLAN in the commercial consumer electronics space. To cover this field, and the market for such high bit-rate data transfer Wireless LAN technologies being commercially launched in the form of chipsets, this research study includes a separate wireless group – ‘Wireless Display/Video chipsets market’.

For wireless broadband chipsets market, only Mobile WiMAX and Mobile LTE chipset markets were analyzed. An interesting scenario to observe is the competition between Mobile WiMAX and Mobile LTE, in turn affecting the deployment of related chipsets in consumer electronics. The overall mobile WiMAX chipsets market for all application sectors (including military, industrial and others along with consumer electronics) stood at $150 million in revenue globally in 2010, with roughly 40 million chipsets deployed across the globe. The market rose phenomenally with spread in popularity of 4G and reached a size of $238 million in 2011, with roughly 253 million chipsets deployed globally; major shares into a selected few countries of North America, Latin-South America, Asia and Europe. However, before the Mobile WiMAX chipsets market could take-off for growth, the introduction of Mobile LTE in 2010, gave stiff competition mainly in the U.S. market, throughout the year 2011.

With other developed economies world currently looking for a suitable 4G technology to upgrade from 3G and 3.5G, the transition to the higher performance offering Mobile LTE is the chosen trend, with preference towards LTE by consumer electronic device manufacturers becoming clear in 2012. 2012Q4 to 2013Q2 is expected to be the break-out periods for Mobile LTE, thus making LTE occupy a major chunk of the revenue potential of Mobile WiMAX from 2012 onwards. By end of 2012, the revenue of Mobile WiMAX chipsets are expected to slightly decline to $227 million globally and in the coming years, the revenue of Mobile WiMAX are expected to decline steadily, with more & more penetration and competition from Mobile LTE every year.

Coming to WPAN technologies, the fastest growing standardized WPAN technology all across the world is ‘ZigBee’. The overall market for ZigBee chipsets which was less than $25 million globally till 2008 boomed to $51 million by 2009 with the merger of RF4CE with ZigBee, to develop a new variation – ‘ZigBee RF4CE’. With rapid adoption of ‘ZigBee RF4CE’ not only for remote controls, but for integration into several other consumer electronic devices such as set-top boxes and residential gateways, the market also witnesses a turn with the beginning of a new, faster and more advanced features promising ‘ZigBee PRO’. Overall, the market for the chipsets reached $98 million by end of 2010. With success of ZigBee PRO into automation applications, such as home automation, building automation and smart energy, the market boomed to $168 million by end of 2011.

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