WiMAX integrated circuit market moves to mobility

The WiMAX integrated circuit market has made a dramatic shift from fixed WiMAX to Mobile WiMAX during the past three quarters, according to In-Stat.
The company said the WiMAX IC industry was focused on fixed 802.16d technology for the majority of 2005 and 2006, with only a small percentage of chipsets directed at mobile devices last year.
“Fujitsu, Intel, Sequans and Wavesat were the fixed WiMAX baseband market leaders in 2005 and 2006; all have since shifted focus to mobile WiMAX,” said Gemma Tedesco, In-Stat analyst. “In addition, fixed WiMAX radio providers Sierra Monolithics and Analog Devices have announced mobile WiMAX solutions.”
The firm predicts the global WiMAX chipset market will reach about 21 million units by 2011 from 300,000 chipset units last year.