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jimcondon
It sounds like MediaTech in handsets works the same way they worked in the DVD ...
will99878898
Feeling the heat, MediaTek seeks a comeback
Dylan McGrath
12/20/2010 10:37 AM EST
Editor's note: The story below was originally developed for the December issue of EE Times Confidential, EE Times’ subscription-only intelligence report. While this story is posted in full below, in order to read a number of other original, enterprising stories like this piece, we would invite you to sign up for EE Times Confidential at www.eetimesconfidential.com
Taiwanese fabless chip vendor MediaTek defied gravity during last year’s recession, growing by more than 20 percent in a year when the wider semiconductor industry declined by roughly 10 percent. But 2010 has been a different story: The wireless chip vendor that some have called the Qualcomm of Asia is believed to have returned to more modest, 6 to 8 percent growth, compared with estimates of a stellar 30 percent for the chip sector at large. The Hsinchu-based company, ranked 17th in the world in chip revenue in 2009, is on course to finish at 21 this year, according to market researcher IC Insights.
MediaTek’s sales have grown from just under $1.5 billion in 2005 to a projected $3.5 billion-plus this year, fueled in large part by its dominant position in the Chinese cellular chip market. But some companies, notably China’s Spreadtrum Communications Co. Ltd., have been cutting into MediaTek’s market share with aggressive pricing.
A new report on MediaTek by EE Times Confidential’s partners at UBM TechInsights provides a comprehensive overview of MediaTek, which was spun out of foundry United Microelectronics Corp. in 1997. The report examines MediaTek’s organization, technology, product portfolio, design wins and partnerships, and offers a detailed look at the company’s intellectual property positions and patent portfolio.
It concludes that MediaTek is bent on graduating from sockets in low-end handsets and other products in the Chinese market to design wins with bigger companies in other regions.
"MediaTek is trying to get out of the low-end markets and position itself as a player with tier 1 companies," says Gordon Holstead, a senior analyst for business intelligence at UBM TechInsights and a co-author of the MediaTek study.
TechInsights concludes that MediaTek is pinning its growth plan on markets outside of China, including India and North America. In hopes of boosting margins and securing design wins in higher-end handsets, the company in July licensed technology for Long Term Evolution (LTE) from NTT Docomo. It is now shipping a multimedia GSM/GPRS solution that UBM TechInsights says integrates the baseband, RF and power management on one chip.
For its part, MediaTek considers 2010 to have been a "flat year" following the robust growth of 2009. Its wireless product line has been in transition, with 3G and smartphone solutions that were rolled out early this year expected to begin generating revenue in 2011, the company says.
MediaTek’s size and rapid growth have put it on the semiconductor industry’s map. But few in the West have a detailed perspective of the company, which does not actively market itself in the United States. According to UBM TechInsights, MediaTek generated 72 percent of its 2009 revenue from wireless and handset connectivity chips, while 16 percent came from digital TV and DVD chips and 12 percent from PC optical storage devices.
Taiwanese fabless chip vendor MediaTek defied gravity during last year’s recession, growing by more than 20 percent in a year when the wider semiconductor industry declined by roughly 10 percent. But 2010 has been a different story: The wireless chip vendor that some have called the Qualcomm of Asia is believed to have returned to more modest, 6 to 8 percent growth, compared with estimates of a stellar 30 percent for the chip sector at large. The Hsinchu-based company, ranked 17th in the world in chip revenue in 2009, is on course to finish at 21 this year, according to market researcher IC Insights.
MediaTek’s sales have grown from just under $1.5 billion in 2005 to a projected $3.5 billion-plus this year, fueled in large part by its dominant position in the Chinese cellular chip market. But some companies, notably China’s Spreadtrum Communications Co. Ltd., have been cutting into MediaTek’s market share with aggressive pricing.
A new report on MediaTek by EE Times Confidential’s partners at UBM TechInsights provides a comprehensive overview of MediaTek, which was spun out of foundry United Microelectronics Corp. in 1997. The report examines MediaTek’s organization, technology, product portfolio, design wins and partnerships, and offers a detailed look at the company’s intellectual property positions and patent portfolio.
It concludes that MediaTek is bent on graduating from sockets in low-end handsets and other products in the Chinese market to design wins with bigger companies in other regions.
"MediaTek is trying to get out of the low-end markets and position itself as a player with tier 1 companies," says Gordon Holstead, a senior analyst for business intelligence at UBM TechInsights and a co-author of the MediaTek study.
TechInsights concludes that MediaTek is pinning its growth plan on markets outside of China, including India and North America. In hopes of boosting margins and securing design wins in higher-end handsets, the company in July licensed technology for Long Term Evolution (LTE) from NTT Docomo. It is now shipping a multimedia GSM/GPRS solution that UBM TechInsights says integrates the baseband, RF and power management on one chip.
For its part, MediaTek considers 2010 to have been a "flat year" following the robust growth of 2009. Its wireless product line has been in transition, with 3G and smartphone solutions that were rolled out early this year expected to begin generating revenue in 2011, the company says.
MediaTek’s size and rapid growth have put it on the semiconductor industry’s map. But few in the West have a detailed perspective of the company, which does not actively market itself in the United States. According to UBM TechInsights, MediaTek generated 72 percent of its 2009 revenue from wireless and handset connectivity chips, while 16 percent came from digital TV and DVD chips and 12 percent from PC optical storage devices.
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GREAT-Terry
12/20/2010 11:33 AM EST
It is a very general development path of Taiwanese fabless house in the consumer market. They are not investing enough in innovative core technology but just focus on cutting cost by leveraging performance and higher integration. This is expected one day competition come with a even lower price tag with lower labor cost. If MTK really wants to gain higher margin and get into tier 1 market, it needs some ground breaking technology so that they can't be caught up easily by Chinese companies.
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chanj
12/20/2010 11:44 AM EST
With the products lining up in wireless, digit TV and optical storage, the company will likely grow stably in 2011 and, highly likely in the next couple of years. A ground breaking innovation will take it to next level. The question comes to whether the executive management and investors are comfortably living with the growth or willingly fighting to become number 1.
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will99878898
12/20/2010 7:42 PM EST
MTK will never get to the next level.
reason is simple: it don't get the resources.
it's located in a tiny island and most of their talents has been soaked by Fabs.
The real qualcomm replacement will come from ... china in ? years.
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jimcondon
12/20/2010 8:50 PM EST
It sounds like MediaTech in handsets works the same way they worked in the DVD market. Provide a low cost reference design with little customization but rapid time to market. It's a good way to get market share but with little to no margin and no way to hit Tier 1 customers.
I don't see how they get out of that hole without developing innovative new technology.
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