Telecom Lead America: Broadcom is likely to lead the Bluetooth IC market (including stand alone and combo ICs) market this year.
Broadcom had over 40 percent market share in 2011 and is expected to increase market share in 2012.
The significant growth will be driven by its combo ICs that continue to gain traction, particularly in the smartphone market.
Broadcom has continued to gain many high volume design wins but competition is growing, suppliers such as Texas Instruments and Marvell are hot on Broadcom’s heels.
Meanwhile, the Bluetooth IC market is likely to clock $4.3 billion in 2012, up 21 percent from on 2011.
Revenues are forecast to grow at a compound growth rate of over 20 percent to reach almost $12 billion by 2017.
“Bluetooth market growth continues to be driven largely by the smartphone sector, with an extra push coming from other major markets such as laptops and media tablets,” said Peter Cooney, wireless connectivity practice director. “The emergence of Bluetooth Smart and increasing Bluetooth adoption in new markets will be a major driver in future growth.”
Broadcom have built a substantial business by spotting the opportunity for combo ICs in smartphones and providing compelling solutions to its customers; reducing cost, die size, and design time.
Broadcom’s market share is expected to fall over the coming years, however, providing it can stay ahead of the competition by developing new combo solutions (for example adding technologies such as NFC) and in the longer-term develop its own more integrated platform solutions it has the potential to continue to be the leading supplier and benefit from increasing revenues for a number of years to come.
Recently, TelecomLead.com reported that Broadcom introduced a new reference design and accompanying software that is helpful in increasing the battery life for wireless keyboards based on the classic Bluetooth basic rate radio.
