Strategy Analytics: High Mix of 5G Drives All-Time High Baseband Revenue in 2020

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the global cellular baseband processor market clocked all-time high revenue in 2020, according to Strategy Analytics.

Strategy Analytics' research finds that strong demand for 5G fueled the baseband market to $26.8 billion in 2020, up 25 percent year-on-year. The Strategy Analytics' Handset Component Technologies (HCT) research report "Baseband Market Share Tracker Q4 2020: iPhone 12 Design-wins Propel Qualcomm's 5G Share to All-Time High" estimates that Qualcomm, HiSilicon, MediaTek, Samsung LSI and Intel and captured the top-five cellular baseband revenue share spots in 2020.

• Qualcomm led the baseband market with a 43 percent revenue share in 2020, followed by HiSilicon and MediaTek, each with 18 percent share.
• 5G basebands posted over eight-fold shipment growth year-on-year and significantly contributed to the overall baseband revenue growth in 2020. The baseband market performed well despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, trade war with China and shortages.
• Niche cellular IoT companies Altair Semiconductor (Sony), Nordic Semiconductor and Sequans saw good traction for their IoT-centric basebands in 2020.
• New entrant Apple, which acquired Intel's smartphone modem business, will join the fray in the next two years.

Sravan Kundojjala, Associate Director, commented, "After two consecutive years of shipment decline, Qualcomm turned the tide in 2020, driven by iPhone 12 design-wins. Qualcomm executed its 5G strategy well with its multi-tier antenna-to-modem strategy in 2020 and established itself as an undisputed 5G market share leader. 5G basebands accounted for over 50 percent of Qualcomm's total baseband revenue in 2020. However, Qualcomm and the baseband industry face a challenge to maintain healthy pricing in light of an increasing mix of lower priced 5G chips. Given the baseband industry's consolidated nature, baseband vendors should stay away from price wars and explore new revenue-generating opportunities such as non-handsets, semiconductor content expansion, Artificial intelligence (AI), and 5G cloud gaming services."

According to Christopher Taylor, Director of the Strategy Analytics RF & Wireless Components service, added, "MediaTek made an early move in 5G and captured the number three spot in the 5G baseband market in 2020 with its 7 nm-based Dimensity 5G SoC family of chips. MediaTek will continue to gain 5G momentum in 2021 and emerge as the strong number two 5G player thanks to its broad customer base in China. However, the company should keep an eye on its cost structure to compete well with Qualcomm, especially in mmWave 5G markets."

Stephen Entwistle, Vice President of the Strategy Analytics Strategic Technologies Practice, added, "Thanks to in-house customer success, HiSilicon and Samsung showed strong growth in the 5G baseband market in 2020. However, HiSilicon's overall baseband shipments took a hit as a result of sanctions. Qualcomm, MediaTek and Samsung LSI will benefit from HiSilicon's challenges. Unisoc, on the other hand, ranked number one in both 2G and 3G markets and showed signs of recovery in 4G basebands. Strategy Analytics believes that Unisoc has a massive opportunity to capture long-tail 4G demand in India and other emerging markets."

About Strategy Analytics

Strategy Analytics, Inc. is a global leader in supporting companies across their planning lifecycle through a range of customized market research solutions. Our multi-discipline capabilities include: industry research advisory services, customer insights, user experience design and innovation expertise, mobile consumer on-device tracking and business-to-business consulting competencies. With domain expertise in: smart devices, connected cars, intelligent home, service providers, IoT, strategic components and media, Strategy Analytics can develop a solution to meet your specific planning need. For more information, visit us at www.strategyanalytics.com.

Source: Strategy Analytics, Inc.
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