Last month we have published our quarterly cellular baseband market share tracker update and based on our estimates the global cellular baseband processor market registered an impressive 15 percent year-over-year growth in 1H 2012 to reach $8.1 billion.

Here are some highlights from our quarterly cellular baseband market share tracker:

• Qualcomm, MediaTek, Intel, Broadcom and ST-Ericsson captured top-five revenue share rankings in the cellular baseband processor market in 1H 2012.
• Qualcomm led the cellular baseband market with 51 percent revenue share in the first half of 2012 on the strength of its leading position in CDMA, W-CDMA and LTE basebands. Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor momentum has significantly helped. Qualcomm's LTE basebands have been adopted by almost all top-tier handset manufacturers.
• MediaTek ranked number two with 12.8 percent revenue share in the cellular baseband market in 1H 2012 with the help of its strong 3G smartphone processor shipments. MediaTek made a significant progress in 3G basebands in 1H 2012.
• Intel grabbed the number three spot with 12.1 percent revenue share in the cellular baseband market in 1H 2012 as the company’s strong 2G baseband shipments significantly helped during the quarter. Intel also did well in the 3G baseband market and ranked number two in the W-CDMA baseband market in 1H 2012. Strategy Analytics believes Intel's upcoming first LTE baseband platform, XMM7060, has the potential to cut into Qualcomm's LTE baseband lead in future.
• Broadcom continued to improve its product-mix and ranked number four in the cellular baseband market in 1H 2012. Broadcom’s 3G baseband shipments showed over 600 percent year-over-year growth in 1H 2012.
• ST-Ericsson ranked number five as the company's new NovaThor baseband apps processors gained strong traction, but were unable to offset its legacy product revenue decline.
• Spreadtrum continued its progress and the company now counts tier-one OEMs such as HTC, Huawei, Lenovo and Samsung as its baseband customers. Strategy Analytics believes that Spreadtrum is well-positioned to further its success in 3G and 4G basebands.

Overall, the baseband market continues to show strength as baseband vendors shifted their focus to high margin 3G/4G smartphone applications processors. We expect LTE to drive significant growth for baseband vendors over the next few years.

Sravan Kundojjala