However several key factors have negatively impacted the growth rate, including
the LTE threat, the immaturity of the WiMAX certification process, the overall
network deployment delays, and the lack of compelling devices. 

The WiMAX subscriber station chipset ecosystem is acutely fragmented, with more
than 14 chipset vendors competing for market share.  This puts pressure on
vendors with insufficient customer traction, lacking funding or scale, or
offering only partial chipset solutions.  Several early movers who entered
the WiMAX market with fixed or Wave1 mobile solutions are now shipping Wave2
compliant chipsets, mainly composed of a base-band chip and a companion RF
transceiver IC.  However, most of the available chipsets are not highly
optimized because they were compelled to cover a broad range of application
segments.

The five key WiMAX chipset vendors have introduced differentiated chipset
solutions, enabling them to gain significant leadership in their target market
segments.  However, few players have the scale to effectively address all
segments and no global leader has emerged in 2009.

Similar to WiFi or 3GPP/3GPP2 platforms, WiMAX chipset vendors have leveraged
their first or second generations to further reduce chipset cost by migrating to
a smaller geometry process node and/or by introducing monolithic dies.  At
the same time, new packaging approaches such as System-in-Package and optimized
Bill Of Material have significantly reduced the footprint of the WiMAX platform,
allowing device manufacturers to launch a new generation of products that are
more appealing, more integrated, and that combine new standards such as 3G and
4G.

The new research report released by Maravedis in partnership with Reveal
Wireless entitled "WiMAX Wave2 Subscriber Station Chipset Vendors Competitive
Analysis" provides a detailed comparison of the key WiMAX chipset vendors,
identifies system architectures, estimates chipset and system BOM, cost of
available devices such as CPEs, USB dongles or Express Cards, and analyzes
vendor product roadmaps and SWOT.  The next challenge for most WiMAX
chipset vendors will be to find the right balance of R&D investments between a
transition to LTE, and a more integrated and cost effective path for their WiMAX
solution.

Maravedis and Reveal Wireless believe that WiMAX mass-market adoption requires
ubiquitous coverage and IOT mature, sub-US$10 chipsets that are power and
performance optimized for each application-specific segment.  Three chipset
vendors are best positioned to achieve the US$10 price target through base-band
and RF monolithic die integration in 65-nm.  Further, the WiMAX market is
not large enough to support 14 chipset vendors.  Consolidations, exits and
transitions toward LTE are expected in the next two years.

The new report also provides an in-depth analysis of key WiMAX chipset vendors. 
Here is a summary of some of the key findings:

Sequans has gained performance leadership mostly in the fixed market. 
Their whole Wave2 subscriber product line supports UL transmit diversity, which
can significantly reduce the cost and power dissipation of the PA subsystem,
while improving the uplink budget.  Their solution also supports UL MIMO
(Matrix A) operation.  They clearly lead the pack in terms of chipset cost
in 2009 thanks to a very aggressive baseband die-size in 90nm.  They were
the first to announce a 65-nm single-die BB+RF solution in Q1 2009, which should
replace their base-band and RF IC SiP gap filler by 2010 and enable them to
maintain their cost leadership.

Beceem has first mover advantage in most markets, with the exception of
the fixed market where Sequans still dominates.  Beceem was first on the
market with a Wave2 BB and RF chipset.  They have one of the most mature
Wave2 Protocol Stacks, which has enabled them to gain sockets with all the
leading mobile operators.  Their product portfolio is very broad, with
specific chipset for each segment, including a single-chip base-band and RF SiP
based on a 65-nm baseband die.  They were the first to introduce a
single-chip WiMAX VoIP Network-Processing-Unit SiP in 2008.

Intel demonstrated their BOM integration leadership by introducing a
complete dual-band WiMAX RF subsystem SiP that embeds the RF transceiver, PA,
filters, switch, and power management functions.  Intel dominates in the
embedded compute segment where they have leveraged their WiFi 11n leadership,
and the strength of their Centrino brand and ecosystem.  Intel was the
first to introduce a dual-mode WiMAX/WiFi 11n 1×2 chipset based on a WiMAX/WiFi
baseband SiP and a multi-band RF transceiver IC paired with a Front-End-Module.

GCT has been the most aggressive in terms of monolithic silicon
integration, using mature 130-nm CMOS process.  They were the first to
introduce a single-die base-band and RF solution, initially for the Wibro/Wave1
market.  Their solution is currently the only Wave2 single-die in
production; they have recently added the support of WiFi 11g.  GCT won the
WiMAX World power shootout and demonstrated low-power leadership in USB dongle
and PCIe minicard applications.

Samsung Electronics has not extended its reach outside of its internal
captive chipset market.  SEC provides chipset solutions only to the Samsung
device divisions, which have a strong presence in the portable and mobile
segments with products such as data cards/USB dongles, embedded mini-cards for
Samsung laptops, MIDs and handsets.

While Runcom is focusing on niche end-to-end markets and is no longer
considered as a player in mobile WiMAX, Tier2 players such as Wavesat, Comsys,
Altair, and Mediatek could emerge and potentially challenge the leading vendors
in some specific applications.  Wavesat is bringing its programmable PHY
solution to maturity and is gaining traction in Japan with PHS OFDMA evolutions
launched by Willcom.  Comsys has been targeting multi-mode mobile markets
with an integrated Edge/WiMAX baseband SoC, leveraging the maturity of their
2.5G modem and protocol stack.  Altair has demonstrated ultra low-power
SDIO solutions optimized for the mobile market.  Mediatek is gaining
traction in the fixed market and has the expertise to emerge as a low-cost
leader when the market matures.

Pascal Deriot, Senior Analyst & Partner, WiMAX & LTE Equipment at
Maravedis, has over 20 years of multidisciplinary experience in the mobile
handset business, including semiconductors, cellular phones, and wireless
technologies.  His experience encompasses cellular phone projects and
platform management, advanced purchasing, strategic and product marketing, as
well as business development.  As a co-founder of Reveal Wireless, Pascal
has strengthened his expertise in market intelligence, publishing WiMAX chipset
vendor competitive analyses.  Prior to founding Reveal Wireless, Pascal
held various roles at Nextwave Wireless, Texas Instruments, Spansion, Micron
technology, and Alcatel-Lucent.  Pascal holds a Master in Electronics
Engineering from Ecole d’Ingénieurs des Technologies de l’Information et du
Management, Paris.

About Maravedis

MARAVEDIS is a leading analyst firm focusing on disruptive technologies
including smart networks using WiMAX, IEEE, and 3GPP/LTE.  Maravedis works
with system and service providers, vendors, regulators, and institutional
investors.  Learn more at
www.maravedis-bwa.com