On balance, wireless chips have carried a small swagger as the industry’s only oasis of good news. But Texas Instruments Inc. caused the sector to stumble by narrowing its third-quarter forecast.
The semiconductor bellwether said it revised its earnings per share to between 20 cents and 23 cents instead of its early prediction of between 19 cents and 24 cents per share.
This piece of news was at odds with Intel Corp.’s forecast a week earlier, which looked forward to a rosier quarter. JP Morgan analyst Chris Danely did not see much cheer as he predicted oversupply in the sector.
“Despite the strong wireless order rates and improved business conditions, we are reiterating our `neutral’ rating on TXN (Texas Instruments) due to high valuation and the risk of another wireless inventory correction,” he wrote in a research note.
Although stocks slipped downward on TI’s outlook, a general optimism still pervades the sector as chipmakers roll out what they consider new and competitive products.
Intel Corp. unveiled what it described as the industry’s first single-chip processor for cellular phones using EDGE technology.
The product, known as the Intel PX800EF processor, combines key components, which include memory, the XScale and the micro signal architecture, according to David Rogers, marketing manager with Intel PCA components group. This makes it a system-on-a-chip solution, he said, adding that Intel is leveraging its acquisition of DSPC, a baseband company whose expertise helped boost Samsung TDMA handsets in the analog days.
“A lot of our competitors need co-processors, but we do it on a single chip,” he said, calling it Intel’s wireless-Internet-on-a-chip technology. The company plans to take advantage of the EDGE protocol’s recent momentum in the market.
Rogers said the product is built on the same chip design as the company’s GSM/GPRS processor known as PXA800F, which enjoyed an upgrade to EDGE with software modifications and increased speed.
Also in the cellular area, Skyworks Solutions, which describes itself as the biggest wireless-only chipmaker, announced a pair of W-CDMA power amplifier modules. They include the SKY77152 and the SKY77404.
“As carriers finalize their 3G deployment strategies, Skyworks’ new PA modules will give handset manufacturers the flexibility to use a single PA solution across a broader range of frequency bands,” said Klaus Buehring, Skyworks’ vice president of power amplifier products. “Additionally, our new LIPA modules can meet the stringent RF performance requirements of W-CDMA transmission even under high load-mismatch conditions, a unique capability that enables designers to eliminate power-consuming isolator circuitry, which significantly reduces cost and board space while dramatically increasing talk time.”
In the wireless local area network space, Agere Systems Inc. said it has delivered its high-performance, multi-mode chipset known as WaveLAN for 802.11a/b/g to original design manufacturers focusing on notebooks.
Askey Computer Corp., CyberTAN Technology Inc. and Universal Scientific Industries, all Taiwan-based ODMs, have signed up as part of Agere’s early adopter program.
Atheros Communications unveiled two new chipsets to extend the range and reduce power consumption of 802.11 networks. The company said it provides twice the range of existing designs and saves power owing to a 60-percent reduction of power consumption.
“The chipsets are the first in the industry to provide important integrated wireless network management capabilities, including Wake-on-Wireless and Wake-on-Theft,” said the company. “These features enable users to remotely manage their wireless devices and receive an alert if they are stolen.”
