In brief: Nokia, optoelectronics market and RFMD
Nokia looks East
Mobile phone giant Nokia believes that 250 million more subscribers will sign up for mobile service in China over the next five years.
Nokia CEO Jorma Ollila says that by 2010 China will account for no less than 630 million subscribers, making it the largest mobile market in the world by an enormous margin.
Nokia has enjoyed recent success penetrating the Chinese market, seeing a year-on-year increase in handset sales to the region of 77%.
SIA bullish on optoelectronics
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has forecast that the global optoelectronics market will grow by around 10% each year and be worth almost $21 billion in 2008.
The prediction was part of the SIA's wider forecast for the entire semiconductor market, which it believes will surpass $300 billion in three years' time.
SIA valued the overall market at $213 billion for 2004, adding that the optoelectronics sector was worth $13.7 billion.
RFMD bolsters EDGE business
GaAs chip manufacturer RF Micro Devices is now shipping its Polaris 2 chipsets to Motorola, the world's second-biggest mobile handset maker, for deployment in its latest phones.
The chipset will be used in Motorola's V360 EDGE handsets. RFMD has reportedly made significant inroads into the Motorola handset business in recent months as it has cemented a position as the leading supplier of EDGE front-end modules.
