One Billion Wi-Fi Chipsets to Ship in 2011 Alone

Wi-Fi seems to be all-pervasive, and in the year 2011 alone, Wi-Fi chipset vendors will ship one billion units, according to market data just released by ABI Research. By the end of the following year a cumulative five billion such chipsets will have shipped since the firm began tracking Wi-Fi chipsets in 2000.

In the near term, says research practice director Philip Solis, �802.11n will be the dominant protocol shipped during 2010, and there will be no looking back as single stream 11n chipsets (those not employing MIMO technologies) increasingly replace 802.11g products.�

Wi-Fi is penetrating an ever-widening array of devices. Wi-Fi chipset shipments will total well over 100 million just for smartphones this year, and smartphones, netbooks, and a wide variety of consumer electronics devices such as portable media players, TVs, and cameras will become increasingly important market segments.

�Although ASPs are falling,� says Solis, �the market is growing fast enough to keep revenues increasing.�

Among other interesting recent industry developments is Qualcomm�s entry into this market with a 4x4 MIMO 802.11n chipset.

Meanwhile, Broadcom continues to be the vendor to catch: �Broadcom's market share may fluctuate from quarter to quarter,� notes Solis, �but the company continues to remain firmly on top of the Wi-Fi chipset market, and will likely continue to do so for the foreseeable future.�