Despite being in a state of relative immaturity,
heavy competition and greater integration in design are driving
down mobile WiMAX chipset average selling prices (ASPs)
according to a new survey from ABI Research.
The market analyst regards the
WiMAX chipset market as advancing quickly with the industry
offering solid 2-chip designs consisting of a single-chip baseband
IC and a single-chip RF IC that are bringing power consumption
down. Three companies—Beceem, GCT Semiconductor, and
Sequans—already offer single-chip designs that include both the
baseband and RF. But, most importantly, WiMAX chipset ASPs are
dropping rapidly.
"Even as the mobile WiMAX chipset market has barely gotten its
feet wet, chipset ASPs are declining rapidly due to heavy
competition and greater integration in designs," explained ABI
Research principal analyst Philip Solis. "Prices for the baseband
and RF components of the chipset have come down from the $35 range
a few years ago to below $25, and will drop below $10 in 2011.
These falling WiMAX chipset prices are critical for inclusion of
the technology in smaller mobile devices."
Even when global subscriber numbers reach the high tens of
millions, ABI Research expects chipset shipments to be well into
the hundreds of millions. Many devices will likely include WiMAX
capabilities well before users subscribe to WiMAX-based service
plans, and some consumers may never utilise the WiMAX capabilities
included in their equipment, as more devices start to include other
wireless wide-area network connectivity features. In addition,
ABI Research predicts that some WiMAX subscribers will have
multiple WiMAX-enabled devices on one subscription plan.
"WiMAX will look a bit like Wi-Fi in terms of rapid ASP declines
and moves towards 100% penetration in laptops," continued Solis.
"Expansion into various mobile devices including Mobile Internet
Devices and consumer electronics will be critical to the growth of
the WiMAX chipset market."