Wi-Fi chipset revenue to approach $3 billion in 2008

Over the last several years, the market for Wi-Fi chipsets (primary components, not including power amplifiers, LNAs and other external components) has grown from just over $1 billion in 2006, though just over $2 billion in 2007, and is expected to deliver revenue of nearly $3 billion in 2008.

According to ABI Research principal analyst Philip Solis, “We expect more than 1 billion chipsets to ship during 2011 alone, while the 2013 opportunity will be more than 1.6 billion units.”

On the device side this is driven mainly by cellular handsets, consumer electronics, laptops, netbooks and MIDs. The laptop market already has 100% attach rates, so much of the growth will come in the other device categories.

Much of this powerful growth will be in 802.11n chips. “n” is quickly being built into access points and laptops, and a little less quickly in mobile devices, which will frequently use a variant that does not include MIMO connectivity, in order to preserve most of 802.11n’s benefits but at lower cost and size.