Continued WLAN boom fuels SiGe sales surge
Annual revenue has quintupled in the past year at Canada-based SiGe Semiconductor, thanks to the rapid growth of the Wi-Fi market.
The company says it made $20.1 million in revenue, although it did not reveal its bottom-line financial performance.
SiGe Semiconductor reckons that it has cornered around 45% of the global market for Wi-Fi power amplifiers, and recently sold its 30 millionth unit. Most of these products have been shipped to China to be integrated in consumer electronics such as notebook PCs, digital cameras and other computer peripherals.
Central to the company's rapid expansion are its RangeCharger series of power amplifiers, and its RF front-end modules for wireless LAN equipment.
"2004 was an exceptional year," said company CEO Jim Derbyshire. "We are focusing on research and development of innovative solutions that will improve integration, performance and reliability of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and cellular handset applications."
The company is now particularly looking to expand its product offering in the traditionally GaAs-dominated sector of cellphone handset power amplifiers.
ICs targeted at GSM/EDGE, CDMA, CDMA2000, W-CDMA and GPRS cellular services can all be expected in 2005.