Frontier Silicon has always done things differently.
Set up to take advantage of the new DAB digital radio standards
four years ago with designs from Imagination Technology and money
from a DAB operator, it has so far kept a low profile in its
Watford headquarters. But the company is moving out of the shadow
of Imagination and has the potential to be a global, high volume
fabless semiconductor player along the same lines as Cambridge
Silicon Radio in the next two years.
Japanese investors think so to, with the recent £16m investment in
the company to see it through to profitability. Japan and Korea are
the main opportunities for mobile TV.
“On DAB we have even grown our market share with business with
companies like Sony and Denon and picking up designs we didn’t have
before such as Roberts and Intempo,” said the firm’s CEO Anthony
Sethill. “Unlike other module makers we have more control of our
design as we have the silicon as well as the software so it’s more
cost effective.”
This technology is then spinning out to wireless audio players that
use WiFi to connect to Internet radio as well as DAB and FM radio.
This could be a massive global market, using the same DAB chips
with the latest Chorus processor from Imagination.
"We are sampling to customers at the moment with products on the
shelf in September,” he said.
From a base of small UK investors, the company now has heavy
hitters from the US and Japan, and if their predictions are right,
could soon be taking on CSR as one of the most successful UK
fabless chip makers.