ABI Research’s quarterly “Wi-Fi IC Market Share Analysis” says that around the middle of 2008, the industry will have passed the one billion mark for cumulative WiFi chipset shipments.
“Cumulative shipments of one billion Wi-Fi ICs mark a significant milestone,” says principal analyst Philip Solis, “but even more impressive, there will be well over a billion chipsets shipped in 2012 alone, with cellular handsets and consumer electronics accounting for over two-thirds of that total.”
During 2006, the Wi-Fi semiconductor market shipped just under 200 million Wi-Fi chipsets, and reached over 500 million chipset shipments cumulatively, according to the latest release of their forecast.
“From our point of view, cellular handsets and consumer electronics were always the most important end products for Wi-Fi chipset vendors to focus on,” Solis adds. “With more than two-thirds of Wi-Fi chipsets going into these two product categories in 2012, it is critical for chipset vendors to secure the appropriate customer wins in order to sustain or grow their market share.”






