Quote prices for 802.11b chipset (MAC/baseband/RF) have recently dipped below US$10, with one supplier asking for as little as US$7-8, sources said.
According to sources, several Taiwan-based IC design houses have begun to price their 802.11b chipsets at the US$10 level. These Taiwanese companies reportedly aim to ride the Centrino wave and quickly position themselves as 802.11b chip suppliers while leading WLAN chip providers, such as Agere Systems and Intersil, are branching into the development of 802.11g chips or 802.11a/b/g chipsets.
Taiwan’s Realtek Semiconductor said in January that it expects to ship 4.5 million WLAN chips this year. The company also said it will soon upgrade to a sub-0.22-micron processing technology to further lower production costs.
In addition to Realtek, ADMtek Winbond Electronics and ZyDAS Technology also supply 802.11b MAC/baseband single chips. Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) provides 802.11b-based MAC solutions.
The 802.11b chipset used to command as much as US$30 in 2001.
Article translated by Chinmei Sung and edited by Jane Wang
