Taiwan WiMAX CPE Shipment Value Forecast to Grow in '09; WLAN Shipment Value to Fall
According to research of the Taipei-based Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute, shipment value of the Taiwanese wireless communications equipment industry in the full-year 2009 is forecast to reach US$3.22 billion, down approximately 14.4% compared to 2008.
Due to steady WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) growth in emerging markets, the Taiwanese WiMAX CPE industry is forecast to achieve growth in 2009. The shipment value of the Taiwanese WiMAX CPE industry in 2009 is forecast to increase 11.4% compared to 2008. The Taiwanese WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) industry is expected to be affected by weak demand in the retail sector and the growth of low-price 11n products. As a result, shipment value of the Taiwanese WLAN industry is expected to decline 18.3% in the full-year 2009.
Looking at WiMAX industry development in the second half of 2009, small WiMAX carriers in regional markets are gradually becoming key customers of Taiwanese manufacturers, and they will become a stable revenue source for Taiwanese manufacturers. If capital injections for local WiMAX carriers in India and North America will be stable in the second half of 2009 and if their base station deployment will continue to grow steadily as in the first half of 2009, WiMAX CPE shipment volume is forecast to rapidly increase at the end of 2009.
As for the Taiwanese WLAN industry, development trends in computing systems, retail channels and consumer electronics will influence the industry in the second half of 2009. Due to netbook PC shipment growth, a low-price trend is moving to the forefront in the notebook PC industry. This has also stimulated a low-price development among 11n WLAN modules. Taiwanese manufacturers' 11n wireless card shipments are moving from 2x2 MIMO to 1x1 SISO. Furthermore, due to the lack of price segmentation, it is expected that 11n module application in computing systems will rapidly replace 11g. As the 11n standard is already mature, chip prices are rapidly falling and competition between chip suppliers is becoming more intense. In order to maintain their market share, some leading WLAN chip suppliers have already promoted integrated chips for notebook PC platforms combining Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
Retail markets in regions around the world were heavily impacted by the financial crisis in the fourth quarter of 2008, and demand has not yet completely rebounded. 11n product demand of retail brands has also turned towards low-price 11n products. Taiwanese manufacturers that mainly have retail clients are aggressively focusing on Internet connectivity demand in TV sets, printers and Blu-ray optical disk drives in their product development, in order to achieve revenue growth.
As for the consumer electronics sector, Bluetooth 3.0 specifications were announced in April 2009. Many WLAN chip suppliers, including Broadcom, Atheros and Marvell, have announced 3.0 product plans. Chip suppliers have high hopes for embedded Bluetooth technology in many handheld devices. The trend of WLAN moving towards WPAN is becoming increasingly evident. This is expected to present new growth opportunities in the future for the Taiwanese WLAN industry. Meanwhile, due to the emergence of slim design for TVs and demand for high-quality images, wireless HD and WHDI technologies will be focus areas of Taiwanese WLAN manufacturers in the second half of 2009.
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