CSR, the market-leading supplier of Bluetooth transceivers, could be considering a move into 3G CDMA chips as part of its plan to expand its one chip RF/digital capabilities into new markets.
“Our architectural approach is applicable to most wireless applications and we have named product plans for WiFi and UWB as well as Bluetooth,” Glen Collinson, executive v-p and co-founder of CSR, told Electronics Weekly.
When asked could the firm’s RF CMOS technology be used in a 3G CDMA chip, Collinson said: “It is not ruled in or out, but at this point in time we have no specific plans other than the three named areas.”
CSR’s main Bluetooth chipset and software business is booming. Its Bluetooth design win market share was maintained at over 60 per cent. On top of that the firm said it had achieved 46 per cent of all mobile phone design wins, with 140 per cent more wins that the leading competitor.
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Collinson: CDMA not ruled in or out
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The firm also said it had won 84 per cent of design wins for latest version of Bluetooth with enhanced data rate.
As a result Q1 pre-tax profit jumped by 137 per cent and revenues were up 103 per cent to $135m.
CSR has jumped ahead of ARM as the UK’s largest fabless chip firm in terms of quarterly profits and ultimately it may need to look to a high volume market such as 3G to support future growth.
“We are the biggest fabless company in Europe and consequentially we are looking at all new substantial applications areas,” said Collinson. The growth in the Bluetooth business has also generated more resources for R&D.
“We now have significant research resources which means we can carry out studies in various areas,” said Collinson.
CSR has 719 staff, up from 688 at the end of the previous quarter. The extra staffwere recruited into research, sales, marketing, applications engineering and operations. The level of recruitment is accelerating, said Collinson.
CSR