Articles by ABI Research

Mobile device semiconductors were one of the few bright spots in a chipset market that stalled in 2011. Revenue from chipsets designed for mobile devices increased by more than 20 percent to $35 billion, while the total semiconductor market limped out of 2011 with just 2 percent year-on-year growth.

Global handset shipments will increase 29 percent from 1.7 billion in 2012 to 2.2 billion in 2016. The key driver of this growth will come from the smartphone segment, which is forecast to become larger than the ultra-low cost, low-cost, and feature phone segments combined by 2016. The total shipments of non-smartphones will grow 1.08 billion in 2012 to 1.09 billion in 2016 while smartphone shipments will grow from 643 million to 1.1 billion over the same period.

 The M2M market is largely characterized by cellular module shipments and connections. China’s cellular connection revenue, which constitutes more than one-third of the Asia-Pacific’s (APAC) M2M market, is expected to grow from $642 million in 2011 to $2.76 billion in 2016.

2011 marked a big year for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the mobile device semiconductor market. From Intel's acquisition of Infineon Technologies AG Wireless Solutions to NVIDIA's purchase of Icera, the mobile device semiconductor market has seen a lot of moving and shaking.