Wireless market continues to grow

Global shipments of wireless local area network (Lan) products jumped by 53 per cent to $3.9bn last year, compared to 2002.

And the wireless Lan market will continue growing at a 21 per cent compound rate to reach $8.5bn in 2007, even as average equipment prices decline at an 18 per cent annual rate, according to a report from market research firm Forward Concepts.

The report identifies the market leaders in the wireless Lan space as Cisco and Linksys, followed by Buffalo, D-Link, Netgear and Symbol Technologies.

Meanwhile, the wireless Lan chip market grew 176 per cent in 2003 to reach $622m globally on 2002, in spite of a 40 per cent decline in overall average selling prices.

The study predicts that wireless Lan chip revenues will continue to grow at a 38 per cent compound annual rate to reach $2.2bn in 2007.

In the wireless chip space, Broadcom was the big winner for revenue in 2003, closely followed by Atheros, Intersil/Conexant, Texas Instruments and Agere.

The report also suggests that some companies will exit the market as margins become increasingly slimmer because of growing competition.