手机芯片大厂将并购，小厂和初创面临绝迹

Future Horizons的分析师Mike Bryant称，英飞凌、Marvell、瑞萨和德州仪器正在形成面向手机产业的二线芯片供应商，而且这些厂商的移动部门可能发生并购。

Bryant表示，市场份额更小的厂商和初创公司在新秩序中将没有立足之地，Icera等厂商将面临生存危机。

Bryant在英国Future Horizons组织的年中半导体市场预测会议上表示，尽管发生了ST-Ericsson这样的合并，但仍有许多一线半导体供应商从长期来看难以生存，类似数量的一线手机厂商也是如此。

“我们预计联发科、高通、博通和ST-Ericsson作为主要供应商，将生存下来，而瑞萨、Marvell、英飞凌、德州仪器，可能还有其它几家二线厂商，也将继续存在，”Bryant表示，“我们在这个市场将将看不到规模较小利基厂商，如Icera，因为OEM厂商希望得到全面的解决方案。”

Bryant表示，联发科凭借低端产品，已经跃居一线手机芯片供应商行列。

“联发科是增长最快的芯片组供应商，正在把其它供应商挤出中低端市场。但是，超过1.5亿个芯片流向了无IEMI号码的非法市场，”Bryant表示。

IMEI意即国际移动设备识别号码，用于识别GSM、WCDMA和iDEN手机，以及部分卫星电话。

Bryant表示，中国不当使用或者不使用IEMI号码的情况较多，但中国已开始打击这种行为。然而，这却可能让联发科技获得额外的好处。因为运营商禁用套用IMEI号码或者缺乏IMEI号码的非法手机，将会促使用户转用合法手机，从而刺激换机市场。

点击进入：参考原文(Analyst: Infineon, TI are second tier in mobile chips, by Peter Clarke)

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Analyst: Infineon, TI are second tier in mobile chips

by Peter Clarke

Infineon, Marvell, Renesas and Texas Instruments are forming the second tier of chip suppliers to the mobile phone industry and the mobile business units of these companies are potentially liable to merger and acquisition activity, according to Mike Bryant, an analyst with Future Horizons.

Companies with even less market share and startups will have no place in the new order, which puts the survival of companies such as Icera at risk, Bryant said.

Speaking at a mid-year semiconductor market forecast organized here by Future Horizons (Sevenoaks, England), Bryant observed that depite consolidations such as the one that created ST-Ericsson, there are still a similar number of tier-one tier semiconductor suppliers as there are top-tier cell phone manufacturers, which in the long term is not tenable.

"We expect MediaTek, Qualcomm, Broadcom and ST-Ericsson to survive as the main suppliers, with a second tier of Renesas, Marvell, Infineon, TI, and maybe a few others also present," said Bryant. "We cannot see smaller or niche players, such as Icera, surviving in this market as OEMs want complete solutions," he added.

MediaTek Inc. (Hsinchu, Taiwan) has burst into the top tier of mobile phone chip suppliers mainly on the strength of its offering at the low end, Bryant said.

"MediaTek of Taiwan is the fastest growing chipset supplier and is pushing other suppliers out of the low- to medium-end business. However over 150 million units are to the illegal non-IEMI numbered market," said Bryant.

The International Mobile Equipment Identity or IMEI is a number, intended to be unique and used to identify GSM, WCDMA, and iDEN mobile phones, as well as some satellite phones.

The mis- or non-use of the IEMI number has been rife in China, Bryant said but China is beginning to crack down on the practice. However, this may have an additional benefit for MediaTek because as illegal phones with duplicate or no IMEI number are disabled by operators it will stimulate the replacement market for legitimate sales.