Wi-Fi Chipset Market Continues Impressive Growth

In-Stat: The Wireless LAN (WLAN) chipset market is on a phenomenal growth pace that is projected to continue over the next few years. The market will soar from just over 140 million annual chipset unit shipments in 2005 to 430 million in 2009. In 2005, growth was driven primarily by mobile PCs, home/SOHO wireless routers and residential gateways, and external clients. The market has been driven primarily by traditional networking devices over the last five years, as well as embedded Wi-Fi in mobile PCs. But the market is shifting, as it will be increasingly buoyed by new categories of devices such as handheld games, gaming consoles, cell phones and printers.

• Broadcom, Atheros, and Intel were the market leaders in 2005, each ruling specific market segments.

• In 2007 and 2008, the phone segment will noticeably emerge, driven by embedded Wi-Fi in cellular phones.

• In 2005, overall chipset revenues were expected to reach almost $1 billion.

Wi-Fi Chipset Fever: 140 Million and Growing Publ 20060228